9 Crimes
by newyorklghts
Summary: When AJ got brought into the crew he never thought he would be involved in this kind of drama, but she's worth it. Of course John is pretty sure she's worth it as well. They can't make the decision for her, but 9 crimes later she has to make a choice.
1. Chapter 1

**9 Crimes**

**Author's Note READ FIRST: This story starts in 2004 and is going to span the time that Ghost is in jail before eventually heading into the movie. The title is from the song of the same title by Damien Rice. I am considering breaking this story into 9 crimes or parts, but I might not depending on how long it gets. I hope you enjoy it.**

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><p>Gordon looked at his crew carefully as he considered their options. "We're going to need help on this one," he finally said.<p>

The men looked at him for a moment, each considering what this meant. The cut would have to be split another way, but they would be able to go after bigger jobs. In the end, it would be worth it. "All right, who do we get," John asked glancing at his friends.

"I might know someone," Jake said quickly. "He's an ivy league, but he's good with computers and could use the money."

"Can we trust him," Ghost asked eyeing Jake suspiciously. He didn't like Jake, never had, but he knew they needed him.

"I trust him," Jake said with a nod.

"We're going to need more than just him though," Gordon replied. This job called for major machinery, fire power, and explosives. "We'll have to go to Charlie."

"Man no way," John said as he stood up. "You remember what happened last time."

"You had it comin Johnny," Ghost replied with a laugh. "You're lucky that's all that happened."

John shook his head at the memory. "No way man, we can find someone else."

"Who else? We don't have time to find someone reliable and have them get what we need. We have to move fast John, and Charlie is the best in the business," Gordon said with a shrug.

"I heard they went legit though," Jake said glancing at John.

"Nah, it's just a cover up," Ghost said. "Charlie likes it too much to ever get out of the business."

"Jake, set up a meeting with your guy. We need to know that he is legit and that he isn't going to flip on us," Gordon said as he pulled out his phone. He scrolled through his contacts before hitting the call button. "Tony, yeah it's Gordon. I need you to set up a meeting with Charlie, as soon as possible."

Jake paced around the loft of his club waiting for the others to arrive. He had setup the meeting for his friend tonight, but so far he was the only one who had shown up. Footsteps on the stairs caused him to pause and glance up. John came into view followed by Gordon.

"You're late," Jake said as they each took a seat. John began fixing himself a drink as Gordon pulled out a cigar.

"Ghost isn't here yet either," John pointed out.

"He's only on time when we have a job," Jake replied. "Besides he should be here any minute."

"What's his name," Gordon asked.

"AJ," a voice said from the doorway. "My name's AJ."

They all turned to look at the blond man. He was thin, but obviously muscular. His blonde hair peeked out of his porkpie hat; he wore black dress pants and a white shirt with a bowtie. He extended his hand to Gordon first.

"Gordon Cozier," Gordon said formally. "This is John Rahway."

"Evening," John said as he shook AJ's hand.

AJ nodded before shaking Jake's hand. "Good to see you man," he said easily. Jake motioned for him to sit as Ghost entered the room.

"Look who decided to finally show up," John joked as he sat down as well.

"I was busy," Ghost said glancing back at Lilly who was coming up the stairs behind him.

"Good to know," Jake said distastefully. Ghost didn't deserve a woman like Lilly. She was way to high class for him. "Nice to see you Lilly."

"You too Jake," Lilly said before greeting John and Gordon. "Who is this?"

"This is AJ," Jake said as AJ stood and shook her hand.

"Nice to meet you AJ," Lilly said politely.

"Likewise," AJ said before sitting back down.

"Lilly, can you give us a few minutes sweetheart," Gordon asked. "We have some business to discuss."

"Of course," Lilly said before heading back downstairs. Jake and Ghost watched her as she went, Jake looked away first hoping no one else had noticed. Judging from the look AJ was giving him, it hadn't gone unnoticed.

"Jake says you're good AJ," Gordon said getting right down to business.

"Well, Jake's the best but I've got a couple of tricks up my sleeve," AJ said with a shrug.

"Where'd you go to school," John asked.

"Yale," AJ replied.

"This is serious business Ivy League," Ghost said. "We don't mess around."

"Look, I know you pulled my rap sheet. I'm good at what I do and I think I can help you guys out. One job, if it doesn't work out then you can shoot me," AJ said seriously.

"Sounds good to me," Ghost said shooting a look at Gordon. He had the final say over who was in or out.

"All right, we'll give it a try, but if you screw us over you're a dead man," Gordon said firmly.

AJ nodded before glancing around the group. "So what's the plan?"

"Tomorrow we have a meeting with Charlie," Gordon explained. "Don't say it John, Tony set this up and I expect you all to be there. Jake walk AJ through the plan and see what the two of you can come up with. It's your responsibility to bring him to the meeting tomorrow. If this works we're going to have a sixth member of our team."

"G, I'm still not sure," John started to say before Ghost cut him off.

"Can it playboy. Play it cool and Charlie won't bother you," Ghost snapped.

"Besides it's the boss you've got to worry about not Charlie," Jake pointed out. "He's still running things back East."

"That makes me feel so much better Jake," John said sarcastically.

"Who is Charlie," AJ asked.

"An old friend of John's," Ghost said with a smirk. "Charlie is going to setup our equipment."

Jake picked AJ up at his apartment before heading over to Charlie's office. It had been awhile since they had worked with Charlie; Jake wasn't sure what kind of reception to expect.

"Look, don't say much ok," Jake said as he pulled up to the building. He parked next to John and turned to look at AJ. "Last time we all worked together, things got… complicated and let's just say Gordon wasn't too happy with John once it was all said and done."

"I'm standing right here man," John said as AJ and Jake climbed out of the car.

"Hey, I didn't say anything that wasn't true. Where are G and Ghost?"

"Already inside I guess," John said as he headed toward the building. "Look whatever happens in here AJ don't hold it against me."

"Hey so long as I don't get my ass kicked we're good," AJ said as he followed them inside. They joined Ghost and G in the impressive lobby. From outside it looked like your standard warehouse, but the inside had been converted into a modern office space. AJ glanced around noticing the stairs that led to the upper floor.

"Is this everyone Mister Cozier," an assistant asked.

"Yes," Gordon said with a nod.

The assistant picked up the phone and spoke softly into it. "Gordon Cozier and his associates are here to see you."

Footsteps sounded on the stairs as someone came down. "Yes I know," a voice said, preceding the person. "I understand that, but my money is valuable and I don't like it when things go missing."

A young woman with striking features and bright red hair appeared on the staircase. Her accent indicated Boston by way of Ireland. She wore loose fitting navy dress pants and a white button up shirt. The sleeves on the shirt were rolled up revealing a tattoo on the inside of her wrist. She had an earpiece into which she was speaking.

"Listen you know my business philosophy, bet big win big, I sent a lot of money your way and I was guaranteed a massive return. Now either I get that return or we handle this like they do in the old country. You've got until this time tomorrow," she said before clicking off her earpiece. "Holly, write down that Mr. Fanning is supposed to call by 10 am tomorrow. If he doesn't, have a crew drop by to handle this."

"Yes ma'am," the assistant said quickly as the woman came near the bottom of the stairs. She paused a few steps from the end and looked at the group for the first time.

"Well, well, it's been a long time," she said with a smile. "It looks like you recovered all right Johnny."

AJ stared at the woman in confusion as she stepped down and hugged John. "You know I am sorry about that, there's no stopping him when he gets that way," she explained.

"Ah, I understand, I probably deserved it," John said as he released her.

"Probably," Ghost said sarcastically.

"Still got an attitude Ghost, good to know some things never change," she said as she stepped around to shake his hand. "G, you know you could have called me, there's no reason to go through Tony."

"It's been so long I didn't want to take advantage of an old friendship," Gordon said as he hugged her. "How are you sweetheart?"

"I can't complain, business is good," she said as she shook hands with Jake. "Good to see you Jake. Who is this?"

"This is AJ," Jake said gesturing toward the last man.

"Nice to meet you," AJ said extending his hand.

"You too, I'm Charlotte, everyone calls me Charlie though," she said with a smile. "Follow me guys, no need to discuss business in the lobby. Anyone want anything? Water? Coffee? Something stronger?"

Everyone shook their heads before following her through an ornate double door and down a short hallway to a conference room. She motioned them all in as her phone started ringing again. She held up her hand as she checked the caller id.

"Give me just a second guys, I've got to take this," she said as she answered her phone. "This is Charlotte."

AJ watched her for a moment before looking at the other guys. "How old is she," he asked softly.

"22," John said with a grin. "She's hot right? You can see why I got in to trouble over her."

"When you guys said Charlie I assumed it was a guy, I never thought it would be…," AJ trailed off as he motioned to her.

"Yes, I know that," Charlie said into the earpiece. She paused as she listened to the man on the other end. "Well thankfully I am the one running operations here on the West Coast not you, so why don't you back off and let me do things my way. When I want your opinion I will give it to you, until you can shut the hell up and do as I say or you can take it up with my father."

Charlie listened to the man's response with a smirk on her face. "Look I've got a meeting right now, so why don't you call him if you are so concerned? I'm sure he would love to hear about how you botched up the Fanning job and I'm cleaning up your mess."

Charlie hung up the phone and glanced at the guys. "Sorry about that, with the recent move I am still dealing with some angry men who can't handle the new… structure," she explained.

"How long have you been in charge," Gordon asked.

"About 6 months, feels like longer though," Charlie said before sitting down. "Enough about my shit, what can I do for you guys? I'm assuming you aren't here for a social call since it was Tony that set this up."

"We need your help with a job," Gordon said easily. He explained the premises of the job and what they needed. Jake and John occasionally threw in things they would need as well, Ghost and AJ stayed silent.

"Sounds like a big job, how quickly do I need to turn this order around," Charlie asked as she double checked her list.

"Two weeks, sooner if you can," John said firmly.

Charlie let out a low whistle. "I don't know if it's enough time for the explosives. I like to be thorough, but if you can set them up yourselves it will be faster."

The group all exchanged glances, they had experience with explosives but they had never done them on their own. "I can do it," AJ said easily.

"You have experience with this sort of thing," Gordon asked.

"Of course, grew up with it, should be a piece of cake," AJ said quickly.

"All right," Charlie said. "Sounds good to me. Anything else?"

"We're having a party tonight at the club," Jake informed her. "You should stop by."

"Lilly would love to see you," Ghost added.

Charlie laughed softly. "I'll see what I can do, if not tell her I'll call in a couple of days."

"Aight," Ghost said with an easy smile. "So what's the deal girl? You seeing anyone since Johnny boy set your old man off?"

"Real subtle," John drawled as he shook his head at Ghost.

Charlie blushed slightly but met Ghost's steady gaze. "Not really, besides you know I was just using Johnny for the sex. Don't let Blondie fool you."

"Hey, that one time was your idea," John said pointing at her.

"You didn't have to agree to it," Charlie replied holding her hands up in defense. Her assistant appeared at the door motioning for her attention. "Yes Holly?"

"Mr. Fanning is on the phone, he has something to discuss with you," Holly informed her.

"That was fast," Charlie commented. "Gents it was great to see you all, if I can get this taken care of I'll see you tonight."

The men all stood and headed toward the door. "Hey, AJ can you stay for a minute? I need to run something by you about this equipment," Charlie asked.

AJ looked at Jake to see if it was ok before answering. "Yeah, I've got a few minutes."

Charlie nodded at him before picking up the phone in the conference room. "This is Charlotte," she said firmly. She listened for a moment before speaking. "I'm glad it turned up, that sounds like an excellent idea. I want access to those funds by tomorrow morning. Thank you."

Charlie hung the phone back up before looking at AJ. "I don't mean to cast doubt on your abilities, but this is a big job and I know how Gordon likes things done. It's got to be done right, you sure you can handle it," she asked.

"It's a simple setup I've done it before," AJ reassured her.

"All right, I'll have what you need in a couple of days. Do you have somewhere to do your work? We've got plenty of space here if you need it," she explained.

"That would be good actually. I don't think I can explain sneaking C4 into my building."

"I don't know, you look like you could spin a pretty story," Charlie giving him a sweet smile.

"So… will I see you tonight," AJ asked.

"I don't know, I guess you'll just have to wait and see," Charlie said mysteriously.

AJ tipped his hat to her and he headed toward the door. "I look forward to seeing you again Miss Charlotte," he said in a cheesy southern accent.

She laughed loudly at his comment and shooed him out of the room. "Take your tattooed self back to the guys before they think I've kidnapped you or something," she ordered.

AJ headed back into the lobby noticing that the guys weren't there. He pushed the front door open and headed toward the parking lot. He spotted Jake and John standing between their cars as he approached them.

"What took you so long man," John asked. He smirked slightly as though he could tell what AJ was thinking.

"Nothing, she wanted to make sure I had somewhere to do the setup, said I could work here," he explained with a shrug.

"She surprised you huh," Jake asked.

"I just assumed Charlie was a guy, I didn't expect her. What happened with you two," he asked gesturing toward John.

"Three years ago we were doing a job and her dad sent her out here to help us out. One thing led to another and we ended up sleeping together, more than once. I didn't know she was only 19, so our age difference caused a problem, but when her dad caught us in bed together after the job ended and he kicked my ass. I mean seriously kicked my ass, she took me the hospital, but after a job we have no contact for at least 6 months to a year. By that time neither of us wanted to deal with the drama, so we called it quits."

"How much of an age difference are we talking here? It can't be more than a couple of years," AJ commented.

"I was 24 at the time, so five years," John replied.

"Damn you _were_ robbing the cradle on that one John," Jake said with a laugh.

"Very funny, that's the way her dad saw it so I got what I deserved."

"Well she's 22 now, think you guys will…," AJ asked gesturing with his hands.

"Hell no," John said firmly. "Once was enough for me, but I saw the way you looked at her. Be careful man."

"Who is her dad," AJ asked quickly changing the subject.

"He's one of the heads of the Irish mafia, Neil Walsh," Jake explained.

"Shit, no wonder he kicked your ass," AJ said. "What's she doing all the way out here? I thought they were in Boston, Chicago, and Ireland."

"They were, but she convinced her dad that there was money to be made out here, so here she is," John replied. "She's a smart girl, but his guys give her a hard time for being a woman."

"Sounded like she was still dealing with some shit from that one phone call," Jake commented.

"Yeah, I've got to get out of here, got things to do before tonight. I'll see you guys then," John said before climbing into his car.

Jake and AJ climbed into his car as John pulled out. "All right man, break this down for me," AJ asked.

"What? The crew," Jake asked as he pulled out of the parking spot.

"Yeah, what am I getting myself into," AJ asked.

"You have no idea," Jake said with a devious smile.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

AJ arrived at the club around 11 and was quickly waved through the door by security. Obviously they had been told who he was with. He took in the energetic crowd as he made his way to the stairs that led to the left. He pushed his hat back slightly as he took in a blonde to his right. She smiled at him seductively but he kept moving. There would be time for that later. Taking the stairs two at a time AJ entered the loft to find the other men already there. They were all immaculately dressed as usual. AJ nodded at them as he took a seat in one of the empty chairs.

"AJ, what did you think of Charlie," Ghost asked.

"Seems like she knows what she's doing," AJ commented as he fixed himself a drink.

"Look who I found downstairs," a female voice announced from the doorway. The men turned to see Lilly pulling Charlie into the room. Wearing a green dress and black stilettos she was a stunner. AJ took in her appearance appreciatively. John whistled lowly.

"Damn Charlie," John said loudly. "Did you get all dressed up for me?"

"Oh please blondie," Charlie said as she swept into the room and perched on the arm of AJ's chair. She plucked his hat off his hat and set it on her head. "You're not the only man on the planet you know."

AJ smiled slowly at her as she winked back. His arm quickly snaked out and pulled her off the arm of the chair and into his lap.

"I see how it is," John replied with a shrug.

"So long as you see how it is, besides from what Lilly has told me you've turned into a playboy, you don't need to add a repeat performance to your list of conquests," Charlie said with a smooth smile.

"Please you know you want me baby," John said smugly.

"Silent, that's the only way I want you honey, silent." Charlie smirked at him before returning her attention to AJ. "Tell me about you."

"Not much to tell," AJ replied as he sipped his drink.

"A man of mystery," Charlie said. "I like that, means you're good for business."

"What about you," AJ asked.

"Nah, you don't get off the hook that easy. You've got to give a girl something to go on."

"You've got beautiful eyes," AJ said as he studied her green eyes.

"Yours aren't half bad either." Charlie tucked a strand of hair behind her ear as she studied him. "You're changing the subject, don't like to talk about yourself?"

"Like I said, there's not much to tell. I went to Yale, but I'm here now and that's all that matters."

"Sounds like you've got secrets my friend," Charlie commented.

"Don't we all?" AJ gently took his hat off her head and placed it back on his own. "I'll keep mine to myself for now, if that's all right with you Miss Charlotte?"

"I'm not one to pry." Charlie nodded slowly and glanced around the room. "So if you aren't going to tell me anything about your past why don't you tell me about something else?"

"What," AJ asked.

Charlie shifted in his lap as she turned back to look at him. Her cell phone rang in her purse catching her attention. She picked her purse up off the floor and quickly pulled her cell out. She sighed softly before answering it. "Hello," she said as she stood up and moved away from the men. "I'm out right now, can it wait until tomorrow?"

AJ watched her as she listened to the person on the other end. Several emotions flickered across her face as she ran a hand through her hair. "I know that, but the last time I checked I was the one you put in charge out here, so it's my call," Charlie said firmly.

This got the attention of the other men in the room, they stopped talking to listen to Charlie's conversation. "It's not like that and you know it! I make calls based on the risk of the investment and the amount of return we are going to get. I don't care if he's pissed off, I'm your daughter and this is my operation. Look at my numbers and you'll know I'm right about this."

Gordon exchanged a look with John as they listened to the conversation. It didn't sound like things were going well for Charlie as far as her family and business was concerned. "No I'm not, not only did I get our money back on that deal I'm working on a new job as we speak. I'm not making calls based on my emotions and I want to know how he found out about this job. I'm not doing it for John, it's a business deal. We've been guaranteed a cut of the profits which are substantial."

The expression on Charlie's face rapidly changed as she listened to what the caller on the other end was saying to her. Her jaw dropped open in shock. "You're serious right now," she asked.

She pressed a hand to her forehead as she listened to the response. Charlie turned her back on the guys as she continued to listen. "Listen to me, I've worked my ass off out here and I've done everything you ever asked of me. I've given up things that mean more to me than you know so that I could do what you wanted. Hell, I didn't go to college because you told me that you needed me working for you. I let you dictate who I've dated because it made you happy. I've put everything on hold to do this for you, and now you are going to take it away from me because your men can't handle taking orders from a 22 year old girl. It will be a cold day in hell before I let that jackass run the business I worked so hard to build for you, not for me but for you. I'm your daughter and he's just another guy who wants a piece of what we've worked so hard for. You owe me this much."

With that she hung up the phone, her hands visibly shaking as she reached over and clutched the railing to her left. "You can stop pretending like you didn't hear all of that," she said without looking at the crew.

"Everything ok," John asked as he stood up and crossed to her. He gently laid a hand on top of her shaking hands before wrapping his other arm around her waist. Charlie leaned into him out of habit, her head resting against his shoulder.

"Did that sound like things are ok," Charlie snapped softly. John knew her well enough to know that she wasn't taking her anger out on him, she just needed to get it out.

"Anything we can do to help you love," Gordon said, "You know we'll do it."

"It won't change anything," Charlie said softly as she released the railing. She turned to look at John her eyes swimming with emotion. "He's taking it away from me, he wants me to be a girl. He said he's doing what he thinks is best for me," she whispered. She rested her hands against John's chest as he wrapped both his arms around her waist and pulled her closer to him.

AJ briefly thought about what John had said in the parking lot of Charlie's office, about things being over between them. This didn't look like something that was over. "I hate to bring this up now, but what does this mean for our job," AJ asked.

Charlie closed her eyes for a moment as she thought about things. "It's still on, my father can't shift leadership over night. It will take a couple of weeks," she explained as she stepped back from John. "In the meantime, I'm going to fight back. If he doesn't want me in his business I'll start my own. I'll take everything I've built with me and this douche bag can start from scratch. Anyone feel like committing arson?"

"You want to burn down your office," Jake asked in surprise.

"I built it, I don't want them in it," Charlie assured them. She checked the time on her cell phone before picking up her purse. "Don't worry guys, even if my dad pushed me out immediately I've already ordered and paid for your stuff it's not being delivered to the office, you'll be covered. I've got to go over there and start transferring files."

"I'll come with you," John offered. "You don't want to be by yourself if one of your dad's guys shows up."

"Thanks," Charlie said gratefully. "I'll see you guys in a couple of days."

John led Charlie down the stairs and out of the club. Lilly noticed them leaving together and quickly made her way back up to the loft. "Are you guys aware that John just left with Charlotte," she asked.

"It's business," Ghost said quickly. "Nothing more."

"Didn't look like nothing to me," Lilly commented.

Jake looked at AJ for the first time since John and Charlie had left. "Hey, don't sweat it," Jake said to the blond. "They've got history."

Hearing his comment, Lilly immediately looked at AJ as well. "Wait, were you thinking of going for it with her?"

AJ squirmed uncomfortably as he glanced at the others. "Look, I don't want any trouble, she's beautiful and seems like an interesting girl, but it's obvious that things aren't as over between her and John as they thought. I don't want to get in the middle of that," he explained.

"Trust me, John doesn't want to fall back into things with her," Gordon said, speaking for the first time since offering their assistance. "He's a creature of habit and he cares about her, but after what happened last time I doubt he's going to let things go that far again."

Everyone looked at AJ waiting to see if he believed it, of course none of them knew if they believed it either. "I guess we'll have to wait and see," AJ finally said.

**Author note: If you enjoy the story please review and let me know what you think! I love hearing from you guys and I always respond to any questions or comments you guys have!**


	3. Chapter 3

**Author's note: Thanks to everyone who has reviewed, favorited, added this story to their subscriptions, I really appreciate the support. I need to clear something up really quickly, I have changed the rating of this story to M, this is the first story I've done with this rating. I felt like there was strong enough language, violence, and sex(for lack of a better word) to change the rating. Don't get to excited though, there isn't any sex for a couple more chapters and the violence only really gets really violent, for lack of a better phrase much later. Thanks again for your support and enjoy!**

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><p>Chapter 3<p>

Charlie awoke with a start, she blinked rapidly not recognizing the room she as in. She sat up and looked around, the night before coming back to her. The doorbell, that had woken her sounded again. "John," she called loudly not knowing where he was. Hearing the shower in the bathroom she figured he couldn't hear the doorbell. She slipped out of bed and quickly headed downstairs to answer the door.

The bell sounded again as Charlie threw the door open and came face to face with Jake and AJ. "Hi," she said sheepishly.

AJ's eyes ran up her body as he took in her appearance. She looked hot in John's dress shirt there was no denying that, and with just her black lace boy shorts he knew what else John had seen in her.

"We're here to see John," Jake said breaking AJ out of his reverie.

"He's in the shower, why don't you come in I don't know how long he will be," she said as she waved them inside. "You guys want coffee?"

"Sure," Jake said as he followed her to the kitchen. AJ trailed behind them as he checked out John's house. It was the first time he'd been there and he was impressed. Sure it was your typical bachelor pad, but John decorated it nicely. There was plenty of art and books scattered throughout the downstairs.

"How'd it go last night," Jake asked Charlie. "Did you get all of your stuff?"

"I emptied my computer onto an external hard-drive, but I don't know what to do about the servers," she explained as she scooped coffee grounds into the pot.

"I can take care of the server for you," AJ offered. He willed himself to not stare at her ass as she leaned forward to start the coffee pot. "You'll have to buy an alternate one and I can transfer all of the data for you."

"That would be great, if you don't mind doing it," Charlie said as she finished with the coffee pot and turned to face them. She heard the shower shut off up stairs and shouted, "John! Jake and AJ are here, hurry up pretty boy!"

"Yeah, just a minute," John shouted back.

"Are you staying with John now," Jake asked knowing AJ wanted to know more than he did.

"Just until I can find a new place for myself, we figured it would be safer this way. All of my dad's guys know where I live, once he finds out what I've done he could send them after me. Hell I wouldn't be surprised if he comes after me himself."

"Your dad would do that," AJ asked.

"You haven't met him AJ, but trust me when I say my father would kill me for less than this. He's either going to be proud of me for doing this on my own or seriously pissed that I've taken everything before he could take it from me."

"Are you taking everything," Jake asked.

"All the files, weapons, investors, and dealers I've found, yes. The money is my dad's though, so I'll take my cut of the Fanning job, my cut from this one, and what I've already got. He can take the rest of it, I don't really care."

"What are you going to do next," AJ asked curiously. If her father was as vengeful as she said he couldn't see him letting her live if she started her own crew.

"Go as legit as possible without having to work too hard," Charlie said with a shrug. "I'll probably get a degree in something, I've got plenty of money it should hold me over for quite some time."

"She's going to get a degree in Art History," John called sarcastically as he came down the stairs.

Charlie rolled her eyes at his statement and poured herself a cup of coffee before fixing one for Jake and John. "AJ you want some," she asked as she pulled open John's refrigerator to look for creamer. She leaned over again revealing a well formed ass beneath her black shorts.

AJ and John both stopped discussing plans as they checked her out. Jake shook his head and coughed to get their attention. "AJ," Charlie called as she turned around. "Both of you stop staring at my ass and answer my question. Coffee, yes or no?"

"No," AJ said quickly. He shook his head and glanced away from her.

"It's not our fault Charlie," John said defensively. "You're the one running around in my shirt and your underwear."

"That doesn't mean you idiots get to stare at me like a piece of meat," Charlie replied.

"You're not a piece of meat babe, more like a really nice car," John said with a smirk. "Like a Porsche."

"Don't compare me to your car John," Charlie warned as she headed toward the stairs. "AJ leave me your cell number so I can get with you about the servers. I'm going to take a shower, don't talk about me while I'm gone."

"Sure thing," John called as she disappeared into his bedroom.

"So what's up man, you hit that," Jake asked.

"I can hear you," Charlie shouted from upstairs.

"Well did he," Jake yelled back with a chuckle.

"Hell no, in his dreams maybe," Charlie said as she came back out of the bedroom. She'd already unbuttoned John's shirt revealing her black bra. She smirked at the look John gave her before turning, dropping his shirt in the hallway and sauntering back into his room.

"I swear she's going to be the death of me," John said under his breath.

"I thought you said you weren't going to go there man," Jake said after a long pause.

John gave him a look that said it all, he'd go there if she was down for it. "I know what I said but that was before her dad decided to boot her out and she started living in my house," John explained. "What happens, happens, we're both adults now."

"Whatever man," Jake said before shooting AJ an apologetic look. John caught the look and glanced briefly at AJ as he sipped his coffee.

"Look I know you were into her, if you want me to back off I will," John offered. He meant it too, which surprised AJ.

"Nah, I'm not making any claims here, she's an adult she can make up her own mind," AJ said with a glance upstairs.

"I like the way you think," John said as he raised his coffee cup to AJ. "Enough about women, what do you guys need?"

"Gordon sent us to go over the plan with you. AJ came up with an exit strategy, but he refused to tell me until we got here," Jake informed him.

"Good, you know exits aren't my thing, I'm fire power. What did you have in mind," John said.

"Have either of you seen Ocean's 11," AJ asked.

"I saw the new one," John said with an 'are you serious' look on his face.

"Yeah, of course who hasn't seen that movie," Jake replied.

"Their exit strategy is our exit strategy," AJ said with a huge grin.

"Wait, you want us to leave in a swat van," John asked in surprise.

"They'll be looking for thieves not members of the swat team," AJ explained.

"That means we have to have uniforms, credentials, how are we going to get the van," Jake demanded.

"Look you wanted my idea and that's it," AJ said firmly.

"It will never work," Jake said with a shake of his head.

"Hold on, one of us could already be planted outside to intercept the van. We make them pull around the side or to one of the back entrances. Their team goes in and then our team comes out behind them, by then the driver has been immobilized, it could work," AJ explained.

"G isn't going to go for a plan that could work, it will have to be a sure thing, besides with someone planted outside as a cop we'll be short a man inside. Who is going to cause a diversion if we need one," John asked.

AJ glanced upstairs for a moment before speaking. "Who better to cause a distraction than a beautiful woman scared by the thieves?"

"You've got a point there," Jake said as he followed AJ's gaze.

"Fine we'll ask her, but if she says no it's your problem not mine," John said holding his hands. John jogged up the stairs and knocked on the bathroom door.

Charlie opened the door wearing nothing but a towel. "Can I help you," she asked.

"Actually yes, get dressed we need to discuss something with you downstairs," John said quickly.

"Give me a minute," she ordered before waving him out of the room.

"I could stay and help you get dressed," John suggested lowly.

"I could break your arm for you too," Charlie said shooting him a sweet smile.

"I'll wait for you downstairs," John said as he backed out of the room.

"Thought you'd say that," Charlie called after him. She quickly got dressed in her dress from the night before and trotted down the stairs. "All right, what do we need to discuss? I have to get to my place to pick up some things, then head to the office to handle this situation. My car is still at the club too."

"I'll take you to get your car in a little while, besides you aren't going back to the office without one of us to watch you," John informed her.

"I can handle myself John," Charlie snapped.

"Yeah, but I don't want one of your dad's jerks handling you. We won't be in your way, just there for protection or heavy lifting," John pointed out.

"Whatever," Charlie said as she ran a hand through her damp hair. "What do we need to discuss?"

"We need you on the job with us, the exit strategy requires one of us on the outside so we'll need you inside and ready to cause a diversion," Jake explained.

"You up for it," AJ asked.

"Sure," Charlie said without hesitation. "This means my cut gets increased though, my involvement increases so does my cut."

"Of course," John said with a nod of his head. His phone rang shrilly from on top of the counter. He scooped it up and quickly answered it. "Talk to me."

John nodded several times before speaking again. "I can do that, when do you need me there?"

John snapped his phone shut after a moment and looked at Jake and AJ. "Gordon wants Jake and I to meet him, we've got to go over the plan. AJ, he said he wants you to go over to Charlie's and see if she needs any help. Since you're here now and she needs help, you two can take my car and handle her stuff, I'll ride with Jake," John explained.

John reached into his pocket and pulled out his keys he dropped them in Charlie's hand and looked at her sternly. "You hurt my car and you will not be staying with me, you'll have to sleep at AJ's," he informed her.

"Yeah, yeah, I'll take care of your baby. Come on AJ, we'll stop at my place first since its between here and the club," Charlie said as she headed toward the door.

"Have a nice day dear," John called sarcastically.

"You too honey," Charlie called back over her shoulder.

* * *

><p><strong>I am going to be adding a couple of new characters around chapter 11 or so, if you would like to have one named after you or just want to name one let me know in a review or a message. While I write stories that I want to read I also want the readers to enjoy them and feel like they've contributed, if there is something that you would like see happen or if you have an idea don't hesitate to mention it! Questions, comments, theories, ideas, random musings, and criticisms are welcome!<strong>


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

AJ trailed behind Charlie and they headed over to John's Porsche. Charlie unlocked the doors before sliding into the driver's seat. AJ climbed in beside her and tipped his hat lower over his eyes. He was confused by this girl to say the least. He couldn't figure her out, she'd given him the vibe that she was into him, but now she was acting like she wanted John. He'd dealt with enough drama in his life, he didn't know if he wanted it with his new job too.

"So what's the deal with you and John," AJ asked.

Charlie raised her eyebrows as she pulled down John's driveway and onto the street. "I don't know, he's a friend," she finally said.

"Didn't look that way to me," AJ countered.

"Really? What did it look like to you?"

"It doesn't matter what I think it looked like."

Charlie glanced at him briefly but continued to drive. "You wouldn't have brought it up if it didn't matter," she pointed out.

"I'm just curious," AJ said with a shrug.

"Nothing happened last night."

"I don't care," AJ replied.

"If you don't care, why are you acting like I did something wrong," Charlie demanded.

AJ smirked at her for a moment, he'd rattled her. She cared about his opinion of her. "Did I say you did something wrong?"

Charlie pulled into a parking lot and slammed on the brakes. She leapt out of the car without a word and stormed toward the apartment building in front of them. She breezed through the front doors without a glance back to see if AJ was following her. He trotted behind her a couple of steps worried she would lash out at him if he got to close.

Charlie strode into the elevator and jabbed the button for her floor. She and AJ stood in a tense silence as AJ tried not to laugh at the situation. He let a soft chuckle escape his lips and immediately glanced at her to meet her death glare.

"What the fuck are you laughing about," Charlie demanded.

"I don't understand women, I didn't say you did anything wrong and I could care less about you and John. I was just trying to make conversation and now you're pissed off at me over it," AJ alleged.

"That's funny, because I don't understand men. You think because I flirted with John that I'm sleeping with him or trying to get him to sleep with me. You never stopped to consider if I were interested in someone else or if perhaps I do want John, but both of us know better and don't know what to do about it. Or maybe you are just jealous, I flirted with you and now you think I led you on," Charlie added.

The elevator door dinged open at that moment and she swept out without looking back at AJ. She was right, he was jealous and thought she had led him on, but he couldn't really be mad at her for not knowing what to do about John. AJ followed her to the end of the hallway pausing to study the door in front of them. She dug around in her purse for her keys not noticing that AJ was stepping around her to look closer at her door.

"Someone has been here," AJ whispered. He knelt in front of her door and pointed out the notch that indicated someone had broken in.

"Shit, do you think they are still here," she whispered back.

AJ reached behind him as he glanced around the hallway to make sure they were alone. He slipped his gun out from the back of his pants and turned off the safety. He pushed the door open and silently stepped inside. He motioned for Charlie to wait at the door as he went further into her apartment.

The apartment was in complete disarray. The furniture had been turned over, books, photographs, and knick-knacks were scattered across the floor. The sofa and other upholstered furniture had been ripped to pieces the stuffing looking like snow on her hardwood floor. AJ walked into her bedroom, carefully checking each room before heading back to the front door.

"They're gone, but your apartment is wrecked," he informed her.

Charlie pushed past him and gasped at the chaos. She purposely moved into her bedroom and pulled her luggage out of her closet. Despite all of the clothing being tossed to the floor and scattered throughout her bedroom none of it had been seriously damaged. She lugged 4 large suitcases out of her closet laying each of them flat on the floor before opening them.

"Can you start sticking clothes in these? I'm going to go check my safe and see what I can save from this wreckage," Charlie asked.

"Of course, please tell me that you didn't have your money in the safe," AJ said.

"No, I never keep money in the house, but all of my valuable jewelry is in there. If my dad sent them, he would have told them to take it all. He's the only one who knew where the safe was and what all was in it," Charlie informed him. She picked up a pair of dark jeans, a thin sweater, and her leather jacket setting them on her destroyed bed. "Can you call Gordon and see if he can spare one of the other guys to help us? With just us we'll be here all day."

"Yeah, you go check the safe. I can handle this," AJ affirmed as he pulled out his phone. "Hey G, it's AJ I'm at Charlie's and it's a total mess, can you send someone down here to help us? She wants to get everything we can save out of here as quickly as possible."

"Goddamn him," Charlie bellowed from the next room. "I swear I'm going to fucking kill him for this, I will kill him!"

"G, send them now, please, before she loses it," AJ pleaded before hanging up his phone. "What's wrong?"

Charlie stormed back into her room and straight into the closet. She climbed over the mounds of clothes to the back wall. She pushed a button AJ hadn't even noticed at the bottom corner of the wall and slid open the trapdoor. The door slid back to reveal several guns. Charlie stood up and pulled down two large designer duffle bags.

"You're going to carry guns in Louis Vuitton bags," AJ asked carefully.

"If you have a better idea, I'm all ears," Charlie snapped as she continued placing the guns in the bags.

"Did he take it all," AJ inquired.

"No," Charlie began, "they left the majority of it, but all of my mother's things are gone."

"I'm sorry," AJ said apologetically.

"He knew what would hurt me the most, I can't say I blame him."

"Well shit," Ghost said from the living room. "They certainly did a number on this place. Where are you guys?"

A moment later Ghost, John, Jake, and Gordon all appeared in the doorway. Charlie stared at them all for a minute before looking at AJ. "Thank you," she said softly. She turned to the other men quickly and clapped her hands together. "I don't want to talk about it. Jake, you take the office, there's a safe under the desk, make sure you get the jewelry out of it. Make sure you check the filing cabinets for anything they might have left. John, Ghost take the living room see what you can dig out of the debris and save. Gordon you take the library, you're the only one who will know what to take out of there. If any of you see something you want go for it. AJ and I will pack up this stuff, there should be more bags in the hall closet and the one in the library. John, check the kitchen and see if there's anything you need because you've got a nice kitchen with basically nothing except a microwave and a coffeepot."

Everyone stood there for a moment watching the young woman as she quickly moved to her bed. She picked up the clothes she had set on it earlier before walking into her bathroom. "Move it gents," she called out mocking G's accent.

"Very funny," G called before going to find bags. AJ passed a bag that was small enough for jewelry to Jake as he passed into the makeshift office.

"There's a trunk for her shoes in the living room, she puts plants in it for some stupid reason," John told AJ before heading about his business.

"Speaking of shoes, did you see how many pairs of kicks this girl's got? She's like a damn shoe store, she could sell them and pay for new furniture," Ghost commented as he followed John.

"You sell my shoes and I will shoot you," Charlie said as she came back out of the bathroom. She dropped her dress into one of the suitcases and began searching for a pair of shoes. "AJ do you see a pair of black flats? I don't really care which ones they are at this point."

AJ plucked a pair of shoes out of the suitcase next to him and passed them to her. He continued to fold clothes and stick them into suitcases as she tossed things to him. Soon her closet was empty and she headed into the bathroom to pack up some of her 'girly stuff' as Ghost had called it. John came into the bedroom clutching a frame in his hands. "Where is she," he asked AJ.

"Bathroom," AJ replied with a wave of his hand.

"Charlie," John said as he entered the bathroom. He held out the frame for her to see. "I found the one of you and your mom. It's fine."

AJ heard her gasp from inside the bathroom. He glanced up watching the reflection in the mirror. Charlie carefully took the frame from John running her hand down the glass. Tears welled up in her eyes as she stared at the picture. "I can't believe he didn't have them take this too," she whispered.

"He's your father, he doesn't hate you Charlie," John reminded her.

Charlie gave him an incredulous look before returning her attention to the picture. "It's been different since she died John. He changed, that's a big part of the reason I decided to come back out here. My mom was furious with him for what he did to you, he apologized but he still refused to give us a chance. When she died he couldn't even look at me anymore, he said I looked too much like her, I sounded like her. He wouldn't speak to me unless it was on the telephone. I couldn't stand it anymore, I had to leave."

"Why didn't you tell me," John asked as he sat on the bathroom counter.

"After what he did to you, I didn't want to run the risk of him doing it again. I didn't want you caught up in my mess yet again."

"I wouldn't have minded."

Charlie's gaze snapped up from the picture as she looked at John. "Don't say that to me, especially not right now," Charlie cried.

"It's true Charlie, I would have been there for you then and I am here for you now. You're just too stubborn to see that."

"Don't act like you've been sitting around waiting for me John."

"You haven't exactly been a saint since we broke up either," John pointed out.

"I'm not doing this with you right now, AJ is in the bedroom and he can probably hear us, not to mention the fact that your boss is just down the hallway. How do you think Gordon is going to react to this," Charlie demanded.

"Who I'm with is none of G's business," John informed her.

"Not now John," Charlie said. "Thank you for finding this, but I really can't do this right now. We'll talk about this later. Please?"

"Fine, but don't think you're getting off the hook," John told her before walking out of the bathroom. He didn't look at AJ as he passed back into the living room.

Charlie walked slowly out of the bathroom and carefully tucked the picture frame into one of the suitcases. "Did you hear that," she finally asked.

AJ met her gaze briefly before going back to his folding. "Yeah, I heard it."

Charlie knelt down next to AJ and reached out to stop him folding. "AJ, my past with John… its more complicated than the others know. I don't want you to think that there isn't something here because there is, but John and I have a lot of history and I can't just ignore that," she whispered desperately. "I need you to understand that if things were different…"

AJ cut her off by pulling his hands away from her. "Don't, I get it, you don't have to explain it to me, but don't tell me if this wasn't going on that we would be something. Don't make me want something that I can't have Charlie," AJ whispered back in a harsh tone.

"We are all set to go," Ghost announced as he entered the bedroom. "Am I interrupting something?"

"No, we're good too," AJ replied as he stood up.

"I have to get a bag out of the bathroom," Charlie said as she stood up as well. She brushed past AJ and walked into the bathroom. The other men joined them in the bedroom, Jake pulling a rollaway bag behind him. Charlie reemerged a moment later and grabbed another bag. "This won't all fit in John's car."

"I drove the Range Rover," Gordon said.

"I brought mine too," Jake told her. "We taking all of this back to your place John?"

"Yeah, AJ, you and Charlie should head over to the office and get that stuff started. We'll meet you guys there once we unload," John said quickly.

"Fine," AJ said shortly before leading the way out of the apartment. It didn't take long for them to load up Charlie's stuff. She lingered next to Gordon's car as AJ headed over to John's Porsche.

"Hey," John said to get her attention. "What's up? Are you ok?"

"Yeah," she said looking away from AJ. "John… I don't think we can…"

John quickly cut her off, "Hey, don't do that. We'll talk about it later ok. Right now you've got to focus on the task at hand." He tucked a finger under her chin to make her look up at him. She met his steady gaze with a timid smile. "You know we'll take care of you."

Charlie knew that translated into John would take of her. He couldn't say that with the rest of the crew standing around. Right now it looked like he was putting up the big brother act, but they both knew there was a lot more behind it. John pulled her into a hug, holding her body close to his. Charlie breathed in his scent, remembering all the times before she had done this. That was the thing with John, he acted like a tough guy who didn't need anyone, but underneath that he was the most affectionate person you'd ever meet.

"You ok kid," Gordon asked as he approached them.

"Yeah, I'm good," Charlie said as she pulled away from John. "I'll see you at the office."

John nodded at her before she headed over to his car and quickly pulled it out of the lot. Gordon watched John as she drove away. "You want to tell me what's going on," Gordon asked.

"I'll tell you when I know," John replied. He didn't want to say anything before he talked to her. It was all going to depend on what she wanted to do.

"Can I say something as your friend," Gordon asked carefully. He didn't want to set John off, but he needed to say this to him.

"If I say no, you'll say it anyway so go ahead," John said as he climbed into Gordon's Range Rover.

"She's got a lot going on in her life right now, and I don't want the two of you to get caught up in something because you've got this knight in shining armor complex and she needs someone to help her and take care of her. You know how it ended last time and I know you don't want to end up back in the hospital because of her father," Gordon said firmly. "Be careful mate."


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

The ride to Charlie's office was silent. AJ stared stoically out the passenger window refusing to even look at her. Charlie was too concerned about what was going to be waiting for her at the office to think about anything else. Things had gone from simple to incredibly complicated in just 24 hours, her father, John, AJ, the office. Pulling up the office, Charlie noted the black SUV parked at the other end of lot. She nudged AJ and gestured toward the vehicle. He nodded before climbing out of the car with her. "Do we go inside or wait for the others," she asked.

"You don't know that it's them," AJ pointed out.

"You don't know that it's not," she replied. She glanced over her shoulder at the vehicle before striding toward the building. The front door was still locked, but that meant very little to her. She quickly unlocked the door and stepped inside. The lobby was dark except for the sunlight from the skylight overhead. She paused listening for any indication that someone else was inside. Not hearing anything she flipped on the lights and crossed to the stairs.

AJ followed close behind her as they headed upstairs and into her office. She paused briefly looking to see if anything had been moved since the night before. "Judging by what they did to my apartment, I wouldn't be surprised if they've got plans for the office space. The servers are down the hall last door on the left, just wipe all the information. Everything really important was on mine," Charlie said as she picked up the phone. Hearing the dial tone she started her phone call.

"Yell if you need me," AJ ordered.

"Jeremy, it's Charlotte, I need a favor and I need it done fast," Charlie said quickly. "The funds from the Fanning account, have they been transferred?"

Charlie turned toward the windows so she could keep watch. She didn't want any unexpected surprises. The black suv was still in its place, but several men were now getting out of it. "Shit," she said under her breath. "Move all of the money into an offshore account right now, I also need you to transfer my funds into a different account. I'll get with you in a couple of days about access but until then I need you out of the country, you hear me? I don't care where you go, but take a paid vacation on me please."

Charlie hung up the phone and raced down the hallway to find AJ. "We've got to go, they're here," Charlie whispered as she pulled the door shut behind her.

"It's going to take a few more minutes, how much time do we have," AJ asked.

"Seconds," Charlie replied as she heard the front door slam. "Shit. I'll handle this, stay in here and make sure this works please. The last thing I need is them snaking all of my work."

"Don't get your ass kicked please, Gordon will kill me if you get hurt," AJ replied.

Charlie nodded at him before slipping out of the room and heading toward the stairs. They knew she was here and were waiting for her in the lobby. She reached behind her to make sure her gun was out of sight before pulling out her cell phone. She dialed John's number praying he would answer it.

"Everything ok," John asked.

"They're here," she whispered before starting down the stairs. She figured she should make it look like she was working. "I know you are concerned about your investment, but you'll see that the new management can handle things just fine. I'll be out of touch for a couple of days so feel free to call them."

She hung up her phone as she reached the bottom of the stairs and looked at the group before her. "Not like you dad, you usually send someone else to do your dirty work for you," Charlie replied. "Where are your lackeys?"

"I thought this one time I would make an exception since you feel so strongly about what is going on here, I told them to wait outside," Neil informed her.

"And what happened at my apartment? That was your way of handling things?"

"You don't get to speak to me the way you did and not have consequences, it doesn't matter now though. You're out, as of tonight your cousin Ian is in charge of this branch. You are coming back to Boston where I can keep an eye on you."

"No, if you are taking me out of the business I'm out, for good. I'm certainly not going back to Boston so you can continue to ignore me, "Charlie snapped.

"I'm not discussing our family," Neil replied. "You are coming home end of discussion."

"Our family is our business," Charlie said. She shook her head at him, she'd never understood why the business was so important until they decided to take it away from her. "You taught me that. You also taught me that the one with the exit strategy always wins, and that you've got to bet big, to win big. I learned a lot from you over the years. Now I'm telling you, I'm not going back to Boston, and I am done working for you in any capacity. You want to see me, you call me at Christmas or Thanksgiving, but other than that we are through."

"You don't come back and you're out completely Charlotte, I'll cut you off without a dime," Neil announced.

"You already took mom's jewelry, hell it's your fault she's dead," Charlie cried. She wasn't prepared for it, but she wasn't surprised when her father slapped her. Pain radiated through her cheek and jaw as she turned her head back to look at him.

"If it's anyone's fault it's yours, you ungrateful little bitch! You're not getting anything from me or anyone else in this family. You are dead to us," Neil bellowed.

"I'm taking what's mine," Charlie informed him.

"Which is what exactly? Some shoes, your clothes, and stupid books. Take them," Neil replied.

"No, I'm talking about the investors that I found, the dealers, the weapons, everything that I paid for out of my profit. It's mine. You can run me out of your business, but you can't keep me out of the game all together."

"You can't play if you're dead Charlie," Neil informed her as he pulled a gun on her. He was fast, but Charlie had anticipated it and pulled hers first.

"Try it," she said lowly. "See if you can shoot me before I can shoot you, you son of a bitch. I can't believe you would shoot your own daughter. Actually I can, because I've been dying for the chance to get a shot at you."

Charlie hadn't heard AJ come down the stairs behind her, she hadn't even realized her was standing right behind her, until he put a hand on her shoulder.

"Charlie, you don't want to do that. You're better than that," he whispered.

"You don't know what he's done AJ, what he's put me through. He traded me for weapons, let his associates have me, used me as a bargaining chip to get what he wanted, and when my mother finally found out about it all one of his business partners shot her for interrupting our little meeting," Charlie choked out. "He deserves to die, why did it have to be her? Why couldn't it have been you? WHY?"

In her anger, Charlie pulled the trigger, but AJ had grabbed her arm causing her aim to be off. Instead of hitting her father square in the chest the bullet hit him in the shoulder. Charlie stood there for a moment in shock as the front door burst open. Her father's men entered followed quickly by Gordon and the rest of the crew.

Her cousin Ian knelt next to her dad as he examined the wound. "Someone call 911, we need an ambulance. Tell them there's been a murder," Ian ordered as he stood up and pointed his gun at Charlie.

Charlie and AJ both pointed their guns at Ian waiting to see if he would shoot. Her father reached up with his good arm and hit Ian. "Don't shoot her, get out of my sight Charlie. If I ever see you again, I will shoot you myself," Neil said firmly.

AJ lowered his gun and quickly pulled Charlie out of the office. The rest of the crew lingered for a moment to see if the Irish were going to do anything before following them out. AJ pulled Charlie over to John's Porsche and pushed her into the passenger seat. "Charlie, the keys," AJ asked.

Charlie stared blankly at the office, slowly comprehending what had just happened and what she had said to AJ.

"Charlie," AJ cried shaking her shoulder. "Give me the damn keys."

Charlie shoved his hand off her shoulder before pulling the keys out of her jacket pocket and handing them to her. AJ tossed the keys to John before joining Jake at his car. "Watch her John," Gordon ordered before climbing into the Range Rover with Ghost.

"I've got it," John called before climbing in and starting his car. "He deserved it Charlie."

"I know," was all she said for the next several hours.

* * *

><p>Author's note: So I have a small problem, but it will hopefully be fixed soon. My hard-drive crashed, I was able to save my stories but my programs are gone and I'm working to get Microsoft office back on my computer. Hopefully it will be back in a couple of days and I can update a little faster. I've already written up through the end of crime number 1 and am working on number 2. I've also decided to add a couple of new characters later in the story, I've already named two of them after two awesome readers, but if you would like a character named after you as well let me know and I will message you about the types of characters that are being added. You get to pick the role of your character but I do retain the right to write whatever I want with them, it is my story afterall, so don't pick a role you will end up hating if I for example turn your character into a slut. Reviews are love!<p> 


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6

Later that night Charlie stood in John's living trying to figure out what to do with all of her stuff. Despite the mess that her apartment had been left in, they had managed to save a lot of stuff. All of it had been packed into whatever they could find, which was mostly designer bags, pillow cases, and the random box. John was getting worried because she had literally not stopped moving since they had gotten back.

As soon as they walked in the door, she immediately started opening things, seeing what was where, putting stuff out that she thought John needed. He'd stopped arguing with her after the first hour. He was now the proud owner of several new pots and pans, a couple of books, a large piece of art that he didn't even like, and waffle iron. She was convinced that he needed all of it. He was planning on sneaking it into her new place once she got settled.

John watched her from the sofa wondering if she was ever going to stop moving around and just focus on what had happened. All though he knew that was exactly what she was avoiding. "Charlie are you hungry," he asked as he headed toward the kitchen.

"No," she called, but John could hear her stomach growling from the kitchen. "Ok, maybe a little."

"I'm going to order in, what do you want," he asked as he presented her with the menus.

"You pick, you know I'll eat anything."

"Pizza good," he asked as he pulled out his phone. It started ringing before he could place the call though, it was Ghost.

"What's up," John asked answering the phone.

"John, have you seen the fucking news," Ghost said angrily.

"No, we've been busy," John said. "Why? What's going on?"

"Stop screwing around and turn on your damn TV!"

"Hang on man," John snapped as he found his remote and switched the TV to the local news.

"As we reported earlier there was a robbery today at the Marshall building, at this time we have no more details but we do know that the police have caught this man, who is apparently involved with the robbery," the announcer droned.

"Shit, that's my cousin Shane," Charlie said as she sat down on the sofa. "Those assholes snaked our job!"

"Those Irish shits stole our job John," Ghost shouted angrily. "What are we going to do now?"

"We'll come up with something else, has G seen it," John asked.

"Yeah, he was pretty cool about it. He said he expected her old man to pull something like this," Ghost explained. "I got to go get drunk or something before I lose my shit. Keep the kid out of trouble please."

With that Ghost hung up and John shot a glance at Charlie. "G's ok about this. Ghost said he expected your dad to do something like this," John said as he sat down next to her.

"Ian will let Shane burn for this one, he doesn't care that Shane's his brother," Charlie said with a shake of her head. She sat there for a moment before pushing off the sofa. "I'm going to go take a shower, pizza sounds good to me but none of that weird stuff you usually get on it."

"Bacon on pizza is not weird," John called as she headed up the stairs. Charlie shook her head at him before disappearing into the bedroom. John waited until he heard the shower turn on to make a phone call. He stepped outside just to make sure she wouldn't overhear him.

"Hey G," John said in greeting when the other man picked up. "Yeah, I'm fine. I'm just worried about Charlie."

"What's she doing," Gordon asked.

"Right now, she's in the shower. She hasn't stopped moving since we got back though. She started going through all of her stuff, she gave me that painting that was hanging in her living room, a waffle iron, all kinds of stuff. She hasn't said a word about what happened today. Did AJ say anything about what happened in there?"

"He just said she got upset and shot the old man. He wouldn't say what she was so upset about though, it probably has something to do with her mother though. I heard she was murdered by someone in the business," Gordon told him.

"I heard that too, but Charlie won't talk about it. She just told me things with her dad were really bad after her mom died. It's why she decided to come back out here."

"Look, you know Charlie better than any of us do, but you've got to realize she's in a strange situation right now. Her whole life just changed in less than 24 hours. Leave her alone, she'll talk to you when she's ready," Gordon suggested.

"If she doesn't," John asked as he turned to look back inside his house.

"Then you either leave her be or you try to talk to her about it. Don't push her John, she'll run like she did last time."

"You're right," John agreed. "I'll talk to you later."

He quickly hung up the phone and headed back inside. Hearing the shower was off John climbed the stairs to see if she still wanted pizza. He found her on his bed asleep in the same shirt she had worn the night before. John shook his head as he undressed and climbed in next to her. Charlie immediately rolled over and snuggled into his chest. John wrapped an arm around her waist before drifting off to sleep with her.

A couple of hours later, Charlie sat straight up in the bed gasping for air. John's arm was still wrapped around her waist but he remained asleep. Charlie ran a hand through her hair and glanced at the clock on the bedside table. 3 am.

Charlie knew the nightmares would start eventually, but she had hoped being in bed with someone else would hold them off. Careful not to wake John, she climbed out of bed and shut his bedroom door behind her. She walked slowly down the stairs and sat on the sofa. Pulling her knees into her chest, she briefly wondered what she was so supposed to do at 3 in the morning. Noticing her laptop sticking out of one of the bags, Charlie grabbed it before sitting back on the sofa. If her dad had stolen their job, she would find them another one. She would show her dad that he had made a mistake about her and that she could run things. She'd already ordered the equipment for the other job, she just needed to find something similar with a bigger take.

After an hour of work, she'd found a new location, somewhere that would work even better than the last place. Conveniently enough she already had a contact in that building that could get her the floor plans and any other information she needed. Charlie sat there for a moment, satisfied with what she had found. Without thinking she picked up her cell phone and hit the call button.

"Hello," AJ asked.

"It's Charlie, I didn't wake you did I?"

"No, I was working on something, why aren't you sleeping," he asked.

"Couldn't sleep."

"Nightmares," AJ asked.

After a moment Charlie decided to be honest with him, "Yeah. I didn't think I'd have them staying with someone else, I guess I was wrong."

"Where is John? If you wanted to talk to someone, why aren't you talking to him," AJ knew what he was really asking her. Why had she chosen to call him at 4 in the morning when she could talk to John?

"He's asleep, I thought you might still be up. Losing your first job with the guys has to be bugging you, but I found another one."

"You called me at 4 in the morning to talk about work?"

"I just wanted to talk to another person, John's asleep, I don't have any friends who know what I'm really involved in, you were the only person I thought would actually listen to me right now."

"So talk, I'll listen," AJ offered. Charlie could picture him sitting in his own living room listening to her.

"I didn't mean to shoot him, I just got so angry. So many things have happened to me, things that he did or let happen. My mom had no idea how bad things really were, he just kept telling her I was depressed or something like that. I didn't think I could tell her what was going on, I knew my dad would never forgive me and I knew she would make us leave. He's an awful father, but he's the only one I've got. He taught me so much and he gave me everything. He always took care of me and my mom, despite everything."

"That doesn't make it ok Charlie," AJ commented.

"I know, I'm not trying to make excuses for him, but I don't know what else to say for him. I could have walked away a long time ago, but I didn't have the strength to. Now that I'm out I don't know what to do with myself."

"Sounded like you wanted to stay in the business to me, is that what you want," AJ asked.

"Maybe, I've been in for so long I don't know what else to do."

"You're only 22 Charlie," AJ pointed out. "You can change your mind you know. If you could do anything what would you do?"

Charlie considered his question for several minutes before answering him. She thought about all the options, all the things she could do, the things she was interested in. "Event planning," she finally said.

"You live in L.A., it's not like you would be hurting for business out here, and if you ever needed more money you could dabble in the other business on the side. Can I ask why?"

"My mom loved planning parties for things, we were constantly having them. She'd sit down and she'd plan the entire thing by herself, she handled everything. It was amazing and they were always beautiful. She told me the secret to success is throwing the best party, no one could say anything bad about a woman who could throw a classy party."

AJ chuckled at the logic, but had to admit that it was true. You couldn't say anything about the person that had provided you with a good time. "So do it, start an event planning business, Jake would let you use his club so long as you put us all on the guest list. It helps you and him," AJ suggested.

"Sounds like you might know a thing or two about running a business Ivy League," Charlie teased.

"I do have a degree in it."

"Are you ever going to tell me about yourself?"

"I could say the same to you Miss Charlotte," AJ replied.

"I think you know too much already, John doesn't even know about what I said to my dad today."

"Are you going to tell him," AJ asked carefully.

Charlie glanced up and saw John standing at the top of the stairs looking down at her. She smiled at him as he started down the stairs. "Who are you talking to," he asked.

"AJ, we were talking about a job," Charlie explained.

"He's awake," AJ asked.

She motioned at John to wait a second as she spoke to AJ, "Yeah he is."

"Guess you should tell him what is going on, I'll talk to you later Miss Charlotte," AJ said before hanging up.

Charlie sat there for a moment before setting down her phone. "Did I wake you?"

"No, I woke up and you weren't there. I wanted to make sure you were ok," John explained.

"I… I couldn't sleep, well I had a nightmare and I didn't want to wake you so I came down here and I started thinking about the job. I found another one, I felt guilty that my family took yours. This one is better and we can still use the equipment from the other one, we'll have to rework the escape plan, but I've got an idea for that too. We can use…,"

John cut her off with a wave of his hands. "I don't want to talk about business right now. Why didn't you wake me up?"

"I didn't want to bother you John. You were asleep," Charlie explained.

"You could have woken me up Charlie. Seriously why won't you let be here for you right now. Talk to me."

Charlie stared at him for a moment before sliding off the couch. She moved toward the windows keeping her back to him. She had told AJ, and yes, John knew about some of the things her dad had done, but she'd never told him what had happened to her mother. AJ didn't know the whole story either, she'd never told anyone the whole story. She didn't think she could. Tears welled up as she thought about how messed up her life had become, how messed up it already was.

"I can't," she whispered.

"Why not?"

"I just can't John," Charlie cried in frustration. "If I tell you, it changes everything. What am I supposed to do if I put all of my shit out on the table for you to see? You don't know what I've dealt with, you don't know what's happened. I can't be forgiven for it."

"For what Charlie," John asked as he moved toward her. "What happened that is so bad you can't be forgiven?"

"No," Charlie gasped through her tears. John grabbed her arms and turned her to look at him. She shook her head at him furiously as her sobs broke through. "I just wanted everything to be ok, all I wanted was a normal family. Why couldn't I have that? Why did my father have to…"

John shushed her as he pulled her into his arms. "He didn't know any better Charlie, it's not your fault. You have to stop blaming yourself for what your father did, for what those men did to you. It is not your fault. Your mom wouldn't want you to feel this way."

"It's my fault she's dead," Charlie choked out. "That is my fault."

"Your mother was murdered Charlie, you didn't do it! How is it your fault baby?"

"I told her," she cried loudly. She pushed away from John and put both of her hands on her head, grasping her hair in turmoil. "I told her what he letting happen to me and how I didn't want to do it anymore, how I knew it was wrong and I didn't want to be used in that way. It's my fault she showed up that night and that she was shot. It's all my fault. If I hadn't told her, she wouldn't have been there and she wouldn't be dead right now."

"Charlie, look at me," John said firmly. He didn't move, knowing that if he went any closer to her it would scare her. She would run, just like she had last time. "Charlotte, look at me, please."

Charlie tore her gaze away from the floor and met John's steady one. He stared at her for a long moment before speaking. "It is not your fault," he said slowly punctuating each word. She started to speak but he held up his hand to stop her. "No, listen to me, your mother loved you, you were the most important thing in the world to her. She knew coming there that night was a risk, but she went anyway. She did it for you, to save you, and given the chance I know she would do it again. Your mother died because of your father's greed, it had nothing to do with you. Even if you hadn't been there that night, things would have still gone down the same way. It is not your fault."

Charlie stared back at him absorbing his words. A wall came down in that moment, she knew there was nothing left, he knew about it all and he didn't care. He was right though, if there was anyone to blame it was the man that shot her mother, her father. It had been out of anger that he fired his weapon, he had only wanted to scare her, but things had turned out much worse. Charlie had not fired the weapon, she had not participated in the argument, she'd only been there. Charlie slowly stepped toward John before stopping in front of him. She leaned up on her tiptoes before pressing her lips against his in a soft kiss. John wrapped his hands around her waist holding her steady in her spot. She pulled back and met his gaze once more.

"Thank you," she whispered.

John nodded at her again before leaning in for another kiss. When he pulled back he glanced at the clock behind them. "It's almost 5, think you can sleep now," he asked. A tiny yawn escaped her lips as she nodded at him. Without a word, John took her hand and led her back upstairs to the bedroom.


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7

Charlie rolled over later that day to find the bed was now empty. She sat up, glancing around the room to see where John was. Not hearing the shower she glanced at the clock. 12:30, she must have been more tired than she thought. She slowly climbed out of bed and wandered downstairs.

"John," she called loudly. Not hearing a response she opened the sliding glass door to see if he was out by the pool. "John?"

She headed back inside finally noticing the note stuck on the refrigerator. Flipping it open, Charlie quickly read the note. He had some errands to run, but he would be back later so they could have dinner out together before going to the club so she could present her idea to the rest of the crew. A knock at the front door caused her to jump. Quickly crossing to the front door, she glanced out to see who was there.

A blonde woman stood there in a trench coat. Great, one of John's girls had come for a booty call. Charlie ran a hand through her hair before opening the door. "Hi, can I help you," she asked.

"Who are you? Where is John," the woman demanded.

"I'm Charlotte, John's not here right now."

"He just left you in his house," the woman asked.

"Actually I'm staying here for a few days. John had to run some errands, he won't be back for awhile. Do you want me to give him a message for you?"

"Tell him Natasha, his girlfriend, stopped by and I'm not happy with him," Natasha ordered.

"Sure, I'll tell him when I see him," Charlie said easily. "Anything else I can do for you?"

"Did you sleep with him?"

Charlie raised her eyebrows at the other woman. She hadn't pegged John to date the jealous type, but he probably didn't know about this yet. "No, I didn't sleep with him last night or the night before."

"You've been here for two days? Tell him to call me too, we need to talk," Natasha said angrily before striding over to her car and getting in. Charlie noticed that her car was now sitting in the driveway, next to where John normally parked.

"Nice to meet you," Charlie called sarcastically before shutting the door. John was going to have some explaining to do.

Charlie stood in the living room sorting through her clothes. She'd finished going over the plan for the new heist and was now trying to find something to wear. Hearing footsteps on the walkway leading to the front door, she stood up and quickly turned around. John opened the door pausing to take in her appearance. She smirked at him as he stared at her clothing.

"Don't you think you should wear more than your underwear tonight? I'm not complaining but other people might have a problem with it," John commented as he moved toward her.

"I wanted to surprise you," Charlie said smiling sweetly.

"I'm surprised," John said as he leaned in close for a kiss.

Charlie pulled back and smiled at him deviously. "Who's Natasha?"

"Natasha," John said in surprise.

"Yes, pretty blonde, legs longer than me, she showed up earlier today wearing nothing but a trench coat. She asked me to tell you that your girlfriend stopped by and that you should call her. She's not happy with you," Charlie informed him. She grabbed a dress from her suitcase and smiled at him. "I think I know what you are going to say next."

"It's not what you think," John said firmly.

"Let me guess, you went out a couple of times and have decided to drop her since I'm back in the picture now, but haven't had an opportunity to talk to her yet," Charlie filled in.

"Yes," John said sheepishly.

Charlie shook her head at him. "I'm not mad John, calm down. I know you've been involved with other women, but if we're going to do this I don't want to be wondering who you are bringing back here."

"So we are doing this," John asked.

"If you want to, then yes, but let's take things slow ok. We're dating, think you can handle that," Charlie asked.

"Are you going to be surprising me like this on a regular basis?"

"If you behave, I think that can be arranged," Charlie said with a laugh.

"Then I can handle it," John informed her. "I've got to shower, we've got reservations at 9."

After dinner John and Charlie headed to the club. The others were supposed to meet them there. Gordon has specifically told John to bring Charlie, he didn't want her to think they were upset with her over what had happened. Business couldn't be discussed inside the club, someone might overhear, but there was always the roof or the more private loft. John took Charlie's hand leading her through the crowd downstairs. Charlie could feel eyes on her as they moved toward the stairs. Turning, she caught Lilly's gaze. The other woman had a judgmental look on her face, but Charlie shook her head and kept moving. People could think what they wanted, she was an adult she could date whoever she wanted.

Charlie could hear the other men in the loft as they reached the top of the stairs. The conversation paused as they entered the room so that everyone could issue greetings. Charlie lingered in the doorway behind John for a moment before stepping into the room. She smiled meekly at Gordon who studied her for a moment before speaking.

"How are you sweetheart," Gordon asked. "Has John been looking after you?"

"I'm ok, John's been great," Charlie said giving his hand a squeeze. John leaned in and wrapped an arm around her waist.

"I do what I can," John commented before releasing her to give Gordon a man hug. "We start the new apartment hunt tomorrow."

"There are a couple of places in my building if you're interested," Gordon said as he hugged her as well.

"Yeah, that would be great," Charlie said as she returned the hug. She noticed that behind him AJ and Jake were deep in conversation, but AJ's glance kept wandering in her direction.

"Damn girl," a voice said from behind her. Charlie turned to find Ghost smirking at her appreciatively. "That is quite the dress, you're working it tonight."

Her dress was a deep blue with an open back down to almost her butt. "I'm going to take that as a compliment," she said as she quickly hugged him. His hands wandered a little far south which John immediately noticed.

"You want me to tell Lilly you were up here groping Charlie's ass or do you want to move your hands," he asked. It was a joke, but Ghost knew what he meant. Get your hands off my girl.

"Just sayin hello Rahway, chill," Ghost said as they shook hands.

AJ and Jake finally turned to greet the rest of the group. Jake gave her a one armed hug, but AJ simply nodded in her direction before sitting back down. Charlie wasn't surprised by the way he was treating her, but she had expected a warmer reception after their conversation last night. She and John settled onto the sofa as Lilly came up to join them. Charlie noticed the way Jake's eyes seemed to follow Lilly as she moved. She briefly wondered if the others knew.

After an hour of laughing and drinking AJ excused himself, saying he needed some air. He headed downstairs, feeling Charlie's eyes on him as he walked out a side door. Charlie waited a few minutes before telling John she thought she'd seen a friend downstairs and would be back in a little while. She glanced over her shoulder to make sure no one was watching before she slipped out the side door as well.

AJ stood off to the side smoking a cigarette. He glanced up when he saw Charlie come out the door, but she couldn't see him standing in the shadows. He watched as the red-head ran her hands up and down her arms trying to stay warm, it was unusually chilly for September. Charlie glanced around before sighing softly and turning to go back inside. She tried the door but it had locked behind her, there was a keypad near the handle but she didn't know the code.

"Shit," Charlie muttered. "That's what you get for going after him Charlie, not like he wanted to talk to you anyway."

"What makes you say that," AJ asked causing her to jump. Charlie spun around raising her clutch in self defense. "You going to beat me with your purse?" AJ stepped out of the shadows and smirked at her.

"You could have said something when I came out the door," Charlie snapped. "How do we get back in?"

"I know the code."

"What is it," Charlie asked quickly losing her patience with him.

AJ shrugged and finished his cigarette. He stared at her for several moments. He didn't want to toy with her, he knew she wouldn't play games, but there was something about her. Even though he knew she was picking back up with John, he couldn't help it. He wanted to know her, he wanted her, in more way than one.

"You're not going to tell me," Charlie asked.

AJ smirked at her and shook his head. "Calm down, I'll tell you… eventually."

"Oh, that's reassuring," she commented sarcastically. "What am I supposed to do until you do that?"

"Talk to me," AJ suggested.

"It didn't seem like you wanted to talk to me earlier," Charlie pointed out. "Why do you want to talk to me now?"

"We're alone, I didn't want to talk in front of the others."

"What do you have to say that you couldn't say in front of them?"

"Why did you call me? You were with John, you could have talked to him, but decided to call me instead," AJ said.

Charlie stared at him a moment shivering slightly in the cool air. AJ slipped off his suit jacket and wrapped it around her shoulders. She smiled at him appreciatively, taking in the scent of his jacket. She thought it would smell like smoke, but it had the faintest hint of smoke, most of it AJ's cologne, a light, musky scent. She reached out and plucked his hat off his head before placing it on her own. "How's it look," she asked.

AJ adjusted the hat on her head, tipping it back slightly so that it better framed her face. He studied her for a moment, in his jacket and hat she was a dream come true. "I think this look works for you. You'll have to convince John to start wearing hats," AJ said lowly.

He didn't mean it to sound the way it did, but he knew from the look on her face that he had hurt her feelings. She quickly pulled his hat off and held it out to him. "I'm sorry," she whispered. "I shouldn't have done that."

AJ took the hat back and placed it on his head. He turned away from her and shook his head. "Just tell me why you called me," he asked again.

Charlie hesitated, she didn't want to hurt him. She knew he'd want an explanation, but she had just told John she wanted to see what they were, she couldn't help it that she was drawn to AJ. She barely knew him though, and that meant that John won. He knew her shit and she knew his, it was why they worked.

"You were there with me, John wasn't," she finally said. "I felt like I could talk to you about it, I told John too. I guess I needed to tell someone who didn't know me as well, who didn't know my past, to see how they would take it."

"So I was your test dummy," AJ demanded.

"No, I didn't mean it like that. I knew you weren't going to judge me because you didn't know me. Telling you, it was like this weight lifted, if I could talk to you about it I could tell him if I had to. I wasn't practicing on you AJ, I hoped you would be there for me and you were. I appreciate that more than you know."

AJ turned back to her and watched her. She trembled slightly under his gaze. She didn't know if he was angry or upset, she didn't him well enough to know he would take any of this conversation. "So you and John are…," he asked trailing off wanting her to tell him.

"We're… we're dating, yes, we are seeing what's still there. We have a history and our relationship got cut off right as it started last time, we've both changed since then and we want to see if there's still something there," Charlie explained.

"I'm happy for you," AJ said honestly. Charlie raised her eyebrows at him. "Really Miss Charlotte, you deserve to be happy and if John makes you happy, then I'm happy for you."

"So what about…," Charlie started to say gesturing between them.

AJ stood there for a moment weighing his options, he knew it would hurt her if he chose not to be there for her in some capacity after what had happened, but he honestly didn't know if he could handle it. He had a feeling that the more he got to know her the more he was going to like her. "Friends," he finally offered.

"Friends," Charlie said with a serious nod. "Can we go back in now? I'm cold and they'll be wondering where we went."

"Yeah," AJ said as he reached over and punched the code into the keypad. "Come on."

AJ held the door open for her letting her enter first. Charlie paused inside the dimly lit hallway to pass him the jacket back. She smiled softly at him before leading the way back upstairs. Upon entering the loft, John pulled her down next to him wrapping an arm around her shoulders.

"Was that your friend," he asked, unaware of her conversation with AJ.

Charlie glanced briefly at AJ before answering, "Yeah, it was."


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter 8

Charlie wandered through the empty apartment, decorating it in her mind. It was the 5th one she and John had looked at that morning. John stood behind her in the doorway his hands in his pockets. Charlie turned to look at him. "Can you see me living here," she asked as she moved toward him. She looped an arm around his neck as she leaned closer to him. "It's a great view."

"Yeah, it is," John commented staring at her.

"Be serious," Charlie admonished.

"I am being serious," John said as he wrapped his arms around her waist. "You know you don't have to get your own place, you can live with me."

Charlie rested her head against his shoulder for a moment as she thought about his offer. "I think it would be better to have my own place for right now," she said softly. "It's not that I don't want to live with you, I just need my own space and you've only got one closet. It barely holds all of your clothes Blondie. Where am I going to put mine?"

"I could get a bigger house," John offered.

"You should probably wait until the next job to do that," Charlie pointed out. "What are you so worried about?"

"Your family," John said honestly. "I don't think your dad is going to let you go this easy and I'm worried they might come after you. I would feel better knowing you were somewhere safe."

"You're not going to be able to be with me every hour of the day John, I'll be ok. How about I let you pick out the alarm system? You know more about that stuff than I do," Charlie said as she twisted in his arms to look at the apartment. "Now answer my question, can you see me living here?"

"Yeah, I can. I see us spending a lot of time in that massive bedroom and the shower's going to a lot of fun," he said lowly as his lips grazed her ear.

Charlie bit her lip as she leaned against him. "I didn't know you were into shower sex."

"Babe, everyone is into shower sex," John pointed out before kissing her neck. The realtor entered the room and smiled brightly at them.

"You two make a beautiful couple, what do you think about the apartment," she asked.

"It's beautiful," Charlie said blushing at the realtor's comment. "I'll take it."

"I have to go furniture shopping," Charlie commented as they entered John's house. "You want to help me pick out a bed?"

"That sounds like something I can handle," John said as his phone began ringing. He pulled it out checking the caller id before answering. "What's up G?"

John listened to Gordon before a moment before answering, "I forgot, we went apartment hunting, we'll be there soon."

"We have a meeting," Charlie asked.

"Yeah, we were supposed to be there half an hour ago. Grab your papers, we've got to go," John said quickly.

Charlie quickly collected the things she would need before following John out the door and to his car. "Do you think G will go for this plan," she asked once they were on their way.

"I don't see why not, more money, less risk, we already have the equipment. We'll just have to wait for the right time."

"What do you mean?"

"Gordon is going to have to decide if he wants to go for it now while the heat is on the Irish or if he wants to wait and let the heat die down," John explained. "Personally I'm for waiting, the cops will respond faster now and they'll be better armed. If we wait awhile, it will mean an easier job for us."

"John, nothing about what you do is easy," Charlie pointed out.

"That's what makes it so much fun," John said with a grin.

An hour later, the only thing left to decide was who would be doing what for the job and when they would be pulling it off. John kept glancing at Charlie as Gordon assigned jobs. So far she was helping AJ with explosives and Jake with the hacking aspect. John didn't want her there on the day of the job, he didn't doubt that she could handle herself, but he didn't want to lose his focus worrying about her and her safety.

"We'll worry about assignments for the day of later, right now I want to know everything about this building and neighborhood that we can. We also need an exit strategy as always, I like Charlie's idea about the wires, but we need to make sure that is feasible," Gordon as he rolled his shoulders tiredly.

"Think it's time to celebrate fellas," Ghost said as he turned to the bar behind them. They always met at the club to discuss business, it was closed for the evening so they could work in silence. "Jake, this thing is empty!"

Jake turned to glance at the bar. "We're restocking it, I'll go downstairs and get it."

"I'll get it Jake," Charlie offered. "I've got to use the restroom anyway. What do you guys want?"

"Scotch," Gordon and John said.

"Same," Ghost replied.

"Tequila," Jake ordered.

"Vodka," AJ requested. "I'll help you."

"Lilly's downstairs, she can help you," Jake said to Charlie.

Charlie nodded quickly before heading down the stairs. John waited until he was sure she wouldn't hear them before speaking. "G, on the day of I don't want her there," he said quickly.

"Why," Gordon asked seriously. "Without her we are down a man, we'll have to bring someone else in."

"I know, but Charlotte being there is going to mess with my focus. I need to focus on the job, but I'll be worried about her the whole time," he explained.

Gordon nodded and looked at the others. "What do you guys think?"

"Being down a man is going to make this tough," Jake pointed out. "We can do it with one less, we'll just have to tighten down our time."

"We need her, she's smart, she'll be fine," Ghost said with a shrug. He didn't want to bring yet another person into the operation.

"I agree with John, having a woman there is going to be a distraction. We need to stay focused, her presence will be a liability," AJ said after a moment.

"See if this plan works with 5 men, if it will then she'll sit out the day of, if not she's going to have to do it. I don't want to bring in anyone else right now," Gordon said.

Downstairs Charlie headed over to the bar after finishing her business. Lilly sat behind it going over plans for an upcoming event they were holding. Charlie glanced over the bottles before picking up a tray. "Lilly can I take this upstairs? The guys want drinks."

"Yeah, let me help you," Lilly offered. She grabbed another tray and set some glasses on it. "So how is the apartment hunt going?"

"Good, I already found a place. Do you want to go shopping with me and pick out some furniture? John has dibs on selecting the bed," Charlie said.

"You know I love to shop," Lilly commented. "How are things with John?"

"Good, we're taking it slow this time. So what are you guys planning," Charlie asked gesturing to the plans on the counter.

"Ah, we've been asked to host an event, but the plans they sent over are ridiculous. They want to close us down for a week so they can redecorate," Lilly said in frustration. "Being closed a week will kill us, especially since we can't invite any of our patrons. Not even the guys can come."

"Seriously, that's ridiculous. What kind of event is it?"

"An after party for some movie premiere, it's great because it brings in new clientele, but it's a risk."

"Have you asked them about a natural ambience, celebrities come to an after party to drink and get away from the cameras. This is the perfect place for that, low-key, dramatic yet subtle. There's a lot you can do with this space with very few changes," Charlie said as she looked around.

"What do you have in mind," Lilly asked.

Back upstairs John glanced downstairs to see where Charlie had gone. "What is taking her so long," he asked as he headed toward the stairs.

"You know her and Lilly, they are probably down there talking about shoes," Jake said as he rose to follow John.

As they came down the stairs, they paused seeing the two women standing on the bar in the center of the room. "What the hell are you two doing," Jake called. AJ, Ghost, and Gordon leaned over the railing upstairs to see what was going on.

"Redecorating," Charlie called before continuing to talk about booths.

"Is this going to be expensive," Jake asked as he and John approached the bar. He offered a hand to Lilly and helped her down.

"She's got some great ideas Jake, it's going to make the club even better," Lilly said in excitement.

John motioned Charlie closer before placing his hands on her waist and lifting her down off the bar. Charlie kissed him on the cheek before turning to look at Jake. "The guy that did my office is great, I'll have him draw up some plans, but if you knock out this wall you could add in several booths. This leaves space for a stage and dance floor, you've got to have live musicians," Charlie explained.

"Talk to me in numbers babe," Jake said snapping his fingers.

"Hey, bet big, win big Jake, "John commented as he wrapped his arms around Charlie from behind.

"Live musicians would be a cool aspect," Gordon called from upstairs.

"Only if AJ agrees to play," Jake called back.

Charlie's eyes lit up at his comment. She pulled away from John to look upstairs. "What do you play," she called.

AJ shot a look at Jake before answering her. "Piano," he called before disappearing from view.

"Don't let him fool you, he's good," Jake shouted.

"That's sexy I'm not going to lie," Charlie said.

"Really," John asked.

"Means he's good with his hands honey, girls like that," Charlie pointed out. "Besides a musician with tattoos and a style like his, he'll be beating them off with a stick."

"So you have a thing for musicians," John asked.

"I'd say so," Lilly joked as she nudged Charlie.

"I find them appealing, I wouldn't call it a thing," Charlie said defensively. "Besides one man is enough for me."

"Let's keep it that way," John commented before kissing her.


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter 9

The months leading up to the heist went by quickly. Charlie and John continued to date, still in the honeymoon phase of their relationship. She'd moved into her apartment and true to his word John had helped her pick out the bed and they christened it shortly after its delivery. Gordon kept an eye on them, still concerned that they were together for the wrong reasons, but everything seemed to be going fine. Ghost and Lilly on the other hand were arguing constantly, most of it was about her long hours at the club with Jake.

They'd started the remodel and Jake had hired Charlie to help them with it. She and Lilly were constantly coming to him with plans. Charlie had already gotten them mentioned in several magazines and newspapers and was in the process of planning a massive New Years Eve party for the club. Several event planning companies were keeping an eye on the event in the hopes of picking Charlie up for their team.

What surprised everyone the most was how close Charlie and AJ had become. True to their word, they had both made an effort to become friends, something that John often wondered about, but had not commented on. She was still dating him, he had nothing to worry about. Gordon often sent AJ and Charlie on errands together, encouraging their friendship. Lilly suspected that Gordon would rather see Charlie with AJ, they were only separated by a year in age and seemed to have more in common. Everything was going well, but things were about to take a turn for the worse.

"Let's go over the plan one more time," Gordon ordered. They were all in his apartment as the club couldn't be used, between the remodel and the prep for the party they never knew who could be listening.

Charlie groaned loudly from inside his kitchen. She and John had been discussing their plans for Christmas. "G, we've gone over it 10 times already, it's going to be fine." She pressed her head against John's chest and sighed loudly.

"Once more won't kill you," G called back to her.

"It might G, and then what is John going to do with himself," Charlie asked before kissing her boyfriend. John shook his head at her and quickly threw her over his shoulder carrying her back into the dining room. "John, put me down."

The others laughed loudly at John's antics before he sat her down and pushed her into a seat. "I'll cry hysterically and drink myself to death," John said sarcastically.

"I figured," Charlie replied with a smile. Gordon rolled his eyes at him before clearing his throat for attention.

"All right, we start at 11," Gordon started.

"By 12 we are ready to move on the jewelry store," John continued. "I take out the first guard while Ghost takes the second."

"I deal with the elevators and the cameras," Jake said picking up the thread. "Then Ghost and I load up the money."

"While they are doing that, I setup our exit," AJ continued. "I take the first two bags across."

"John and I watch the people, John takes bags 3 and 4, Jake takes 5 and 6," Gordon said.

"You take 7 and 8 and I bring up the rear, taking the wires down after I get out," Ghost said.

"I park the van in the parking deck below the building and leave it, AJ has the keys, and your clothes will be there. Scott is meeting you guys at the club at 3. Lilly and I are to be at my apartment waiting for word before heading to the airport to meet you guys," Charlie said. "I am not to leave the apartment after returning from placing the van, I do not watch the news and I do not answer the phone."

"Once we all arrive at the airport, John and Charlie are headed to Aspen for Christmas, AJ is going to New York, Jake is going to Mexico with his brother, Ghost and Lilly are headed to Hawaii, and I'm going back home. Everyone is back in time for the new year's party at the club, if everything goes according to plan."

"Which it will," John commented.

"If it doesn't, no contact, you flip you die," Gordon said looking at each of them carefully. His gaze lingered on AJ. They all loved AJ, he was the perfect addition to their group, but he was the newest and they still didn't know if he could be trusted.

AJ stared right back at Gordon refusing to be intimidated, he had no intention of flipping if he got caught, he didn't plan on getting caught though. Charlie laid a hand on his knee under the table causing him to look away from Gordon. He grabbed her hand giving it a reassuring squeeze before returning his attention to the meeting.

"Anything else," Charlie asked.

"You've all got your tickets? The last thing we need is one of us stranded at the airport," Gordon said.

"I've got ours," John said.

"Lilly has us covered," Ghost commented.

AJ and Jake simply nodded before they all rose from the table. Charlie lingered for a moment as the others headed toward the door. Gordon glanced at her as he waved the others out. "I need to talk to Charlie about something, give us a minute then you can go," he told John.

John glanced between the two of them before walking out of the room. Gordon pulled a slim box out of his suit jacket and set it on the table in front of her. "Merry Christmas sweetheart," he said.

"G, you didn't have to get me a gift," Charlie said as she picked it up.

"I know, but I hope you like it," he replied. Gordon had become a father figure for Charlie, she hadn't seen or heard from anyone in her family since that day at her office. He frequently bought her gifts or sent her and Lilly shopping on his dime, he knew how to treat a woman, and their boyfriends knew it was a platonic relationship so they didn't mind.

Charlie carefully unwrapped the box, before flipping the lid up. Inside lay a white gold Rolex with a diamond-set dial. Charlie gasped, the diamonds caught the light perfectly and Gordon had remembered her preference for white gold over yellow. "G, it's beautiful, thank you," she said softly. She pulled a box out of her purse and passed it to him. "I think you're going to like it."

Gordon took the present and quickly opened it to find a watch similar to Charlie's. He was steel and yellow gold. He smiled happily and quickly put the watch on. It fit his wrist perfectly. "How'd you get the right fit," G asked curiously.

"I might have borrowed one of your other watches," Charlie confessed.

"Smart girl," G replied. "Thank you love, it's perfect."

Charlie smiled sweetly before speaking, "You'll look after him G?"

Gordon looked up at her noticing how tense she really was. She kept it hidden from John, but Gordon could tell her was worried about not being there tomorrow. She wanted to know what was happening every step of the way, making sure all of her guys, but especially John, were safe.

"Of course, I'll watch them both," Gordon said indicating he knew about her friendship with AJ.

Charlie was surprised that Gordon would say something about it, but chose not to acknowledge it for now. "Thank you, take care of yourself too. I don't know what I would do if I lost one of you," she said softly.

Gordon tipped her chin up so she was looking him in the eye. "We'll be fine, now get out of here. John is probably wearing holes in my carpet waiting for you out there," Gordon said.

Gordon wrapped an arm around her shoulders and ushered Charlie toward the door. John stood in the hallway waiting for her, pacing back and forth. Charlie smiled at the sight of him, his blonde hair was ruffled from running his hands through it so many times. John held his hand out to her and pulled her out of the apartment.

"We'll see you tomorrow G," John said before pulling Charlie to the elevator.

"Don't stay up to late," Gordon called.

Charlie looked at John across the table and sighed. "Can we get out of here please?"

They were having dinner out, neither of them liked to cook, but Charlie just wanted to be alone with John, not stuck in a crowded restaurant. John met her gaze before nodding. "Yeah, let's go," John said before throwing some money on the table.

Charlie took his hand and followed him out of the restaurant. They waited at the valet stand for John's car before quickly heading back to his house. They'd decided that she would stay with him for the night, the van they were using for the getaway was at his house. She'd leave from there and park the van in the parking deck.

They didn't speak on the way back to John's, they both had a lot on their minds. They finally arrived at John's, Charlie climbed out of the car and stared at the van for a moment before following John into the house. John headed into the kitchen and began fixing himself a drink. "You want anything," he called.

Charlie wrapped her arms around his waist and pressed a kiss to the back of his neck. "Just you," she whispered.

John turned around and pulled her closer, he smirked at her for a moment before kissing her hard. Charlie's hands ran up his arms before tangling them in his hair. John deepened the kiss before lifting her up on the counter behind them. Charlie broke away from him gasping softly. "I'm scared," she whispered as she leaned her forehead against his. "I wish I were going with you tomorrow."

"You can't Charlie," John said before kissing her. "If you were there, no one would be focused on their job, we'd be too concerned about making sure you were ok."

"Even you," she asked with a coy smile.

"Especially me," he replied. "I love you Charlie."

Charlie pulled back and stared at him in surprise. They'd never said that to one another before, but she could tell by the look on his face that he meant it. "I love you too John," she whispered back.

John leaned in kissing her deeply. Her hands went to his chest quickly unbuttoning his shirt and pushing it off his shoulders. It landed behind them forgotten on the floor. John pulled back long enough to yank off his undershirt before returning to her lips. He kissed his way down her neck eliciting shallow gasps from Charlie. She pressed herself closer to John, her fingers tracing patterns across his chest.

"Shirt," John growled as he pulled back again. Charlie grabbed the hem of her sweater and quickly pulled it off. "Hold on."

John pulled Charlie off the counter and carried her up the stairs to his bedroom. Charlie laughed softly as he dropped her on the bed. He stared at her legs for a moment wondering if he should take her boots off, on the one hand they were sexy, but at the same time they would probably get in the way. Kicking off his own shoes and socks, John leaned over and tugged her boots off her feet. Charlie grabbed his arms and pulled him onto the bed with her without a word. She pressed against him wanting to be as close as possible to him. John rolled them over so she was on top of him and unhooked her bra.

Charlie smirked at him as she slowly slid it down her arms revealing her breasts. John smiled appreciatively before rolling them back over. He took his time kissing her, his lips slowly traveling down her neck to her chest. Charlie was squirming beneath him, his slow pace driving her crazy. "Patience," John said before squeezing her breast. He rolled her nipple between his fingers feeling it harden. Charlie moaned as her hips bucked up against him. John took her other nipple into his mouth slowly teasing her. Her fingers tangled in his hair again as his other hand trailed down her body to the front of her jeans.

John unclasped her jeans before slipping his hand inside to tease her. Charlie arched slightly moaning. "John… I need… please," she gasped out.

John quickly maneuvered her out of her jeans, his dress pants joining hers on the floor. He wanted to draw this out but he didn't know how long he could wait. Hooking his fingers under her underwear he slid it down her legs and dropped it on the floor as well. John leaned up and kissed her deeply his fingers teasingly brushing against her. He slipped two fingers inside her without pretense her body arching against his. Her hands grasped at whatever they could reach as he continued to stroke her. He kept a slow pace driving her crazy as his lips traveled down her body. His tongue flicked across her clit making her gasp loudly.

"John, more," she gasped out. He gave her what she wanted curling his fingers upward hitting that sensitive spot within her. He could feel her muscles tightening as he increased the pressure of his tongue. "Oh god, John, please, I'm going to…"

John stopped before she could come and quickly slid up her body. She whimpered at his teasing but kissed him hard. John managed to free himself from his boxers his lips never leaving hers. Hooking her legs around his waist John pushed into her as her fingers dug into his back. He pulled her even closer as his hips snapped forward pushing deeper than before. He set a fast pace pushing them toward the edge.

"John," Charlie gasped out as he drove into her. She moaned loudly trying to ask for what she wanted. "I want… please can I…"

John slowed for a second and kissed her. "What," he ground out as he kept thrusting.

"Top, I want to be on top," she mumbled out. John pulled back and rolled them over. Charlie slid him back inside her slowly lowering herself onto him. She gasped as he filled her completely. His hands came up to touch her, one on her breast the other brushing against her clit. She set a jerky rhythm knowing she wouldn't last long. John flexed his hips beneath her pushing upward with each thrust. Charlie ground against him moaning loudly. Her head rolled back as she came moaning his name over and over. Hearing her moaning his name was all it took for John to come too.

Charlie slid off him before collapsing next to him on the bed. "You're going to kill me," Charlie said smiling slowly at him. John tugged her closer so her head was resting on his chest. "You're all sweaty."

"I wonder why," he said sarcastically. Charlie kissed his chest before looking up at him. "What is it babe?"

"Nothing, just thinking about tomorrow," she said softly.

"Stop, I don't want to talk about tomorrow, it's going to be fine. You worry too much," John complained. He sat up pulling her with him. "Shower time."

"Oh you mean shower sex time," Charlie joked as he led her into the bathroom. John kissed her before turning to turn on the water.

"Maybe," he whispered into her ear. "We've got all night and I've got a big house. We're going to be busy."

The doorbell chimed throughout the house waking the couple upstairs in bed. Charlie groaned loudly and kicked her foot toward the door. "No, bad doorbell, must kill doorbell," she mumbled as she buried her face against John's chest. They'd only been in bed for a couple of hours, it'd been a long night for them.

"How do you kill a doorbell," John asked as he started to climb out of bed.

"No," Charlie pouted trying to pull him back into bed. "Screw them, I'm going to hurt however that is."

"You can screw me later," John offered. He headed over to his dresser and grabbed a pair of boxers and an undershirt. "We have to get up, busy day today. Did you finish packing for Aspen?"

"Maybe," Charlie mumbled as she pulled John's pillow over her face. John found a pair of pants quickly setting his shirt, tie, and jacket out as well.

"Maybe yes or maybe no," John asked as he pulled the pillow away from her head.

"Maybe I've only packed really sexy lingerie," she replied.

"I think you might want to pack something a little warmer for the plane ride," he suggested. Charlie smirked at him before leaning up for a kiss. John finally pulled away from her and looked at her sternly. "Seriously, get up. You've got 10 minutes then I'm going to throw you in the pool and you know I'll do it."

"Fine," Charlie groaned as the doorbell rang again. She wrapped the sheet around her body and headed into the bathroom. "Tell whoever is at the door that I am going to kill them unless they brought me coffee."

"Will do," John said as he finished getting dressed. He headed downstairs and quickly pulled open his front door. AJ and Jake stood there on his doorstep waiting for him. "Charlie said she was going to kill you unless you brought coffee."

"Good thing we came prepared," AJ said holding up two cups. John took both from him setting Charlie's on the counter.

"Charlie, AJ and Jake are here, don't come down naked please," John yelled upstairs.

"Where did you get coffee," she demanded as she emerged from the bedroom. She trotted down the stairs, kissing AJ and then Jake on the cheek. She pulled John's coffee from his hands and took a sip.

"AJ brought it, yours is on the counter," John told her as he took his back.

"Oh my god, you're my new favorite person," she said happily as she picked hers up. She took a huge gulp and smiled gratefully.

"I thought I was your favorite person," Jake asked.

"That was last week, this week it's AJ," Charlie replied.

"Really? Last night I was your favorite," John pointed out.

"You didn't bring me coffee," she pointed out. "What time is it?"

"9," AJ said after a glance at his watch.

"All right I've got to go, I'm going to drop the van, and I'll take a taxi back to my place. Lilly is supposed to be there around 11:30," Charlie said quickly. She kissed John hard pulling him as close to her body as possible. "Be careful, all of you."

"Will do," Jake said.

"You're the boss Miss Charlotte," AJ said saluting her.

"Love you," Charlie whispered to John before picking up her coffee and purse. "I'll see you at the airport."

"Love you too," John said before she headed out the door.

"Long night," Jake asked as soon as the door closed behind her.

"Shut up," John ordered. "What are you guys doing here?"

"Making sure you two were up," AJ informed him. "There's been a change of plans for Christmas. Gordon wants everyone to go to Hawaii, he wouldn't say why, but we've all got tickets."

"Charlie's going to be disappointed, she wanted to snowboard," John said.

"She can surf instead," Jake pointed out. "Do you have any idea why he changed his mind?"

"No idea man," John replied.

"I didn't want to see my family anyway so this works out for me," AJ said with a shrug. He didn't know what to tell his family he did for a living.

"All right, let's get a move on, we've got things to do," John finally said waving them out of the house. It was time to set their plan in motion.


	10. Chapter 10

Chapter 10

Charlie and Lilly sat silently in her apartment watching the time tick by. It was after 3 and they still hadn't heard from the guys. Charlie ran a hand through her hair and stood up. She paced back and forth behind her sofa checking her phone yet again. "Turn on the tv," Charlie finally said.

"They said not to watch the news," Lilly reminded her.

"Yeah that was before they didn't call us on time. We were supposed to hear from them 2 hours ago," Charlie cried in frustration. Lilly picked up the remote and flipped to a local channel.

"We continue our report of the robbery earlier today, it has been confirmed that one of the assailants has been arrested after being shot," the newscaster droned. "The other assailants have not been discovered at this time, but the police are working to bring them in as soon as possible."

"Oh god," Charlie said as a feeling of complete dread settled in her stomach. She yanked her phone out of her pocket as Lilly grabbed hers off the coffee table in front of her. They both dialed their guys silently praying they would answer.

"This is John, leave me a message at the beep," the phone said.

"Damn it John," Charlie cried in frustration.

"Ghost isn't picking up either," Lilly said.

"I'm trying Gordon," Charlie replied.

"I'll call Jake," Lilly offered.

"Voicemail again," Charlie said quickly losing her cool.

"Same," Lilly said standing up as well. Charlie dialed AJ's number.

"Pick up, pick up, pick up," Charlie chanted.

"Hello," AJ finally said.

"AJ, thank god, I'm sorry I know we weren't supposed to but we watched the news. Are you ok? What happened? Who is it," Charlie said hurriedly.

"Charlie I can't talk right now, just get to the airport, Van Nuys," AJ said before hanging up.

"AJ," Charlie shouted into the phone. "Damn it!"

She screamed in frustration and grabbed her car keys. "He said to go to the airport, he wouldn't say anything else," she said quickly. "Grab your stuff, we've got to go."

...

Charlie and Lilly stood in the parking lot at Van Nuys waiting for the guys. Charlie kept fiddling with her keys and tapping her foot impatiently. The van the guys were using finally pulled into the parking lot. AJ drove and Gordon sat in the passenger seat next to him. Charlie stopped breathing and reached over to grab Lilly's hand. AJ and Gordon climbed out of the van and went around to the back without saying anything to the women.

A young man who looked remarkably like Jake climbed out first carrying two of the bags. He set them down pausing briefly to look at the women. He nodded at them before moving to take more bags. Several bags and suitcases were unloaded from the van, but there was still no sight of John, Ghost, or Jake.

A lump began to form in Charlie's throat and she bit down on her lip to keep from losing it. AJ and Gordon came back around the side of the van moving toward the women. Jake stepped out from behind the van with the young man they had seen a few moments ago. Finally the last person emerged. Charlie dropped Lilly's hand and pushed past AJ and Gordon she threw herself into John's arms grasping him tightly. Her hands clutched the back of his shirt as he pulled her closer. "Are you ok," she whispered. Her hands shook violently as she placed them on John's face to look at him.

"I'm fine, I'm fine baby, calm down," John said. He grabbed one of her hands and squeezed it hard.

"No," Lilly shouted from behind them.

"Oh god," Charlie said as she turned to look at the other woman. Jake held her up as she clutched desperately at the front of his shirt. "It was Ghost."

"There was nothing we could do," John said softly. John held onto her as she leaned into him. AJ turned to pick up some of the bags and caught her gaze.

"Are you ok," she asked. AJ nodded at her before heading toward the plane. She could tell that he wasn't ok though, something was upsetting him. "What happened?"

"We'll talk about it later, let's just get out of here," John said. The crew emerged from the plane and began loading their luggage. John led Charlie into the plane with the others. She sat down in the seat next to his, resting her head on his shoulder. Lilly sat across from them, watching them with broken eyes. John wrapped his arm around her shoulders pulling her closer to him. Their fingers interlaced as they waited for takeoff. No one spoke for the entire flight, no one knew what to say or what was going to happen.

...

As soon as they arrived at the house in Hawaii everyone disappeared into their separate rooms. John dropped their bags on the floor and Charlie threw herself onto the bed. John lay down next to her and pulled her into his arms. Charlie breathed in his scent silently thanking god or whoever that he had made it out. "What happens now," she asked.

"We wait to see if he rats us out," John said.

"John," Charlie said weakly. She looked up at him her eyes brimming with tears. "What happens if he tells?"

John held her gaze for a moment before speaking. "I don't know, it will be up to Gordon."

A knock on the door caused them both to sit up. AJ peeked inside before opening the door further. "Charlie, Gordon wants to talk to you," he informed them.

Charlie slipped out of John's arms and followed AJ into the living room. Gordon motioned for her to sit before nodding at AJ to leave the room. Charlie shifted uncomfortably as she waited for Gordon to start speaking.

Gordon clasped his hands together and watched her for a moment. "Today did not going according to the plan, you already know that. I'll let John fill you in on the details. I need to know what you want Scott to do with your cut," Gordon said.

Charlie glanced up, staring at him in confusion, one of their friends had just been arrested and all he wanted to talk about was the money. "Have him put it in an offshore account, I'll have my guy move it later. Is that all," she asked.

"If Ghost flips, I need to know what you will do," Gordon said as he sat on the coffee table in front of her.

"What do you mean?"

"I don't think Ghost would implicate you in this, but he might. Even if he doesn't, John and the rest of us will be in trouble. What are you going to do," Gordon asked again.

"I'll do whatever John wants," Charlie said.

"All right, I have a request for you and then you can go back to John. I know it's been a long day," Gordon replied.

"Sure."

"Lilly, is really messed up about Ghost. Can you and John keep a low profile around her? She's upset and I'm worried she might take it out on the two of you. You got your guy back and hers is going to prison," Gordon explained.

"We'll do our best," Charlie said before standing and walking back to her room. John was still sitting on the bed, but AJ was standing in the room talking with him. Charlie closed the door behind her and leaned against it.

"You ok," John asked. Charlie nodded silently, not looking up to meet his gaze.

"I'll leave you guys alone," AJ said as he moved toward the door. Charlie didn't move though so he could leave. She finally looked up at him. "Charlie, are you sure you're ok?"

"I'll be fine," she whispered. She knew John was watching them, waiting to see what was going on. "You're ok?"

"I'll be fine Miss Charlotte, don't worry about me," AJ said, using his nickname for her.

Charlie nodded before moving aside so he could leave the room. John held his hand out, staring at her anxiously. Charlie took his hand and let him pull her closer. "What's going to happen to Lilly?"

"It's taken care of," John told her.

Charlie looked at him in confusion. "What does that mean?"

"If something happens to one of us, someone else looks after our interests for us," John explained.

"Your interests? You make Lilly sound like a car or a house, she's a person John!"

"That's not the way I meant it, Gordon is going to put Ghost's money into an account he can access when he gets out of prison. The rest of us have already agreed to give Lilly a portion of our cuts so she has some extra money. Jake is going to keep an eye on her if she needs anything."

"So Jake is looking after Ghost's 'interests' for him," Charlie said in annoyance. "Who looks after yours?"

"What," John asked.

"You made it sound like since Ghost is gone Jake gets Lilly, who gets me if something happens to you?"

"Charlie," John said with a shake of his head.

"Answer the question," Charlie snapped.

"It's not important, they would all be looking after you just like we're all going to be looking after Lilly."

"Sure, but Jake is the one you specifically mentioned, like he has some kind of claim on her. If something happens to you, who is going to be 'looking after me'," Charlie demanded.

John could tell by the look on her face that he wasn't going to get away with not answering her question. He'd have to tell her, but he didn't plan on doing it anytime soon. "Charlie nothing happened to me, I don't plan on anything happening to me. It doesn't matter who is looking after you because right now it is me and that is all that matters," John finally said.

With that he stood up and headed toward the bathroom. Charlie grabbed his arm trying to make him stop. "Answer my question John, or I'll just ask AJ," she cried angrily.

"Go ask him, see what he has to say," John snapped as he pulled his arm out of her grasp. "I don't get why you are making a big deal about this."

"I am a person, not a car or a house that you need someone to look after, if something happens to you, what makes you think I'll still want to be involved with the crew? I am here for you, if something happens to you I don't want to be wondering who is 'looking after me' waiting to move in. You know that's what Jake is doing, he has feelings for her that's why he's doing this! It's not right John," Charlie hissed in frustration. She didn't want the others to hear them arguing especially Lilly.

"Go ask AJ," John said annunciating each word with a harsh tone. "He'll be more than happy to explain it to you."

Charlie stared at him for a moment before storming out of the room. She went down the hall to AJ's room, but discovered he wasn't there. She quickly went downstairs and noticed him standing outside on the beach. Charlie threw the door open and headed down the beach to him.

AJ didn't turn as she approached, he kept staring out at the waves lost in thought. Charlie stopped next to him completely ignoring the ocean. "I need you to answer a question and I really need you to be honest with me," she said quickly.

AJ turned to meet her gaze, noticing how angry she was. "Sure Charlie," he said carefully.

"If something happens to John, who is going to be looking after me?"

"You mean like Jake is for Lilly," AJ asked.

"Yeah, who gets me?"

AJ studied her for a moment before turning back to the ocean. "I do," he said almost too softly for her to hear.

"Why?"

"It was Gordon's idea, if something should happen to John, I'm looking after you. Although I doubt you'll need looking after," AJ explained.

"Does my opinion on this decision matter," Charlie asked.

"No, I don't think Gordon considered you or Lilly in this, which is why I was hesitant to agree to it. John didn't want it either, but I think it has more to do with him not trusting me with you than anything else."

"Why wouldn't John trust you with me? We're just friends," Charlie said with a shake of her head.

"He knows that if I had the chance I would want more, but you are with him and I respect you both too much to cause drama."

"AJ, we talked about this," Charlie reminded him.

"That doesn't mean I can't think about it, and believe me I have thought about it," AJ pointed out as he turned to walk down the beach.

"Wait," Charlie said as she grabbed his arm. "What does that mean? What have you thought about?"

AJ stepped closer to her and leaned in, from the house it looked like a normal conversation. "I'm sorry if you don't like the arrangement but that's what it is. There's nothing we can do about it because we work for Gordon. We do what he wants."

Charlie let him walk away before peeling her gaze away from him and staring at the ocean. Gordon was just trying to look after them, even if he was going about it in the wrong way. If she were honest with herself, she was tempted by his offer. She didn't think she could cheat on John, but AJ was certainly tempting. She heard the door behind her open and she turned to see who was coming out. Lilly stopped next to her and sat down in the sand.

"I can't stand being inside, it's too quiet," Lilly said.

Charlie sat down next to her and took her hand. "No one knows what to do."

"You and John are fighting."

"Yeah, but we'll be fine," Charlie said with a shrug.

"You're lucky," Lilly said softly.

Charlie looked at the other woman for a moment before speaking. "I know, and I'm sorry."


	11. Chapter 11

Chapter 11

Christmas was quiet for the rest of the crew. It didn't take them long to get information on Ghost, he wasn't going to be back for awhile. He got a pretty big sentence, but Gordon doubted he would have to serve the whole thing. Ghost was smart, AJ thought differently though, he was clever not smart, there's a difference.

Jake's brother Jesse kept their minds off the problems they would be facing when they got back. The young man was eager to be a part of the crew, but they had all agreed that at 15 he needed some more time. Jake wasn't crazy about bringing his brother in anyway. Lilly seemed to be dealing with things ok, she had confided in Charlie that things had been tough with Ghost lately. The no contact rule applied to her as well so Lilly didn't know what she was going to do while Ghost was gone. She might wait for him, she might not.

Charlie, John, and AJ didn't discuss the arguments from the first day. Charlie didn't bring up what AJ had said about John not trusting them together. John didn't mention who was looking after her and AJ didn't bring up his feelings for her. As far as anyone could tell things were back to normal, but it had caused a small rift between Charlie and John.

The crew got back into town a couple of days before New Year's Eve. Charlie, Jake, and Lilly had gone straight to the club from the airport to check up on party planning. The renovations had been completed and the club would be opening with a huge party for the new year. Charlie ran over her check list again and again making sure every detail was perfect. She and John hadn't really spoken since their fight, even though they'd shared a room in Hawaii.

Charlie stood in her apartment the night of the party trying to decide on her shoes for the evening. It was going to be a long night so she wanted comfortable shoes, but it was an important party. She finally selected a pair of black stilettos and slipped on her dress. It was a silver sequin number with long sleeves and an open back. Lilly had actually picked it out for her several weeks ago. Checking her hair one last time she grabbed her phone and purse and headed to the club.

In the car, her phone started ringing. Charlie quickly picked it up as she pulled up to a red light. "Hello," she said into the phone.

"Charlie, we have a small problem," Jake informed her.

"What happened?"

"We hired the live band for the first couple of hours until the DJ takes over, well the pianist for the band is sick and they don't have a backup."

"Shit," Charlie whispered. "What are we going to do?"

"I have an idea. AJ can play," Jake said quickly.

"Did you ask him or is this just an idea," Charlie asked.

"I already asked him, but we figured we should run it by you first."

"Hey, if he can handle it and doesn't mind then I say let him do it," Charlie said firmly. "I'll be there soon."

...

Charlie entered the club through the back entrance, she got there before everything was in full swing. She carefully surveyed the bar area making sure everything was in place and that the bartenders had everything they needed. Lilly was at the hostess stand going over the list one last time. Jake and AJ were nowhere to be seen though. John and Gordon weren't arriving until later.

"Where are the guys," Charlie asked Lilly when she got the chance.

"I think they went upstairs," Lilly said pointing to the loft area.

Charlie quickly climbed the stairs and stepped into the loft. Jake and AJ were leaning against the bar at the back of the area, their backs to her, talking softly. Charlie smiled at them, she knew they were close, it was nice to see.

"What are you two talking about," Charlie asked as she moved closer to them.

Jake and AJ turned quickly surprised to see the young woman upstairs, especially since they had been talking about her. "Nothing," Jake said quickly.

"This and that," AJ said with a shrug. He stared at her for a moment taking her in, she always looked amazing, but tonight she seemed to glow. "You look amazing Charlie."

Charlie smiled at his compliment, "You don't look half bad yourself. Jake, is Jesse coming tonight?"

"He should be around here somewhere, I told the bartenders not to serve him. He just got out of juvy, no sense in getting him sent back already," Jake told her.

At that moment Jesse burst into the room grooving to the music that had started playing downstairs. "This is a great party Red," Jesse informed her.

"It hasn't even started yet," Charlie said with a laugh. "I'm glad you are enjoying it, pace yourself please."

"No problem sexy," Jesse replied.

Charlie rolled her eyes and glanced at AJ. "So you are all set to play piano for the first hour?"

"Yeah," AJ said with a nod.

"You do know how to play right? I mean I've never heard you play before so you can understand my doubts," Charlie pointed out.

"Have a little faith Miss Charlotte," AJ said tipping his hat to her.

"Charlotte? I thought your name was Charlie," Jesse commented.

"It is stupid," Jake said in annoyance. "She goes by Charlie because people will do business with a Charlie before they do business with a Charlotte."

"If this party goes according to plan she won't be in the business for much longer," John called as he joined them in the loft. "Boys, how are you baby?"

Charlie smiled and wrapped her arms around his neck. John skimmed a hand down her back, he didn't miss the look on AJ's face as he did so. He kissed her on the cheek and stepped back to examine her outfit. "I like this dress, very nice choice. I think it's missing something though," he said as he pulled a small box out of his jacket pocket.

Charlie froze when she saw the size of the box. It was small enough to be a ring, but surely John wasn't going to propose right now in front of everyone. AJ and Jake eyed the box both wondering what this would mean for the crew if it turned out to be a ring. Charlie took the box out of John's hand and untied the ribbon he had placed around it. She glanced up at him for a moment before flipping open the lid.

Nestled inside the box was a set of earrings. Charlie gasped when she recognized them, her mother had a pair just like them. Delicate looking caresse d'orchidees par Cartier earrings, they were in the shape of orchids and made from white gold with paved diamonds. She didn't think they were her mother's but it didn't stop her from asking, "Are they hers?"

John smiled slightly at her before shaking his head. "I knew how much you loved them and your dad took your mom's pair, so I got you a pair of your own," he explained. "You like them?"

"Like them? John, I love them," she said as she removed them from the box and quickly put them on. "What do you think?"

"Perfect," John said before leaning in for a kiss.

"What's perfect," Gordon asked as he joined them upstairs.

"My present from John," Charlie said happily as she showed her earrings to him.

"You're spoiled rotten," Gordon commented. "I gave you a watch for Christmas, John bought you earrings, what's next? Do I have to buy you the matching necklace and bracelet for your birthday?"

"That would be nice," Charlie said as she glanced downstairs. Guests were starting to arrive for the party. "AJ, you are on. Make me proud."

Grabbing AJ's arm, Charlie kissed John once more before heading downstairs to get the party started on a classy note with a live jazz band, it would later lead into the usual debauchery of a New Year's Eve party, but for now the club was introducing itself as the new hang out for the rich, fabulous, and young.

...

As Jake, Charlie, and Lilly made the rounds making sure everyone was happy and having a good time, AJ and the band were busy entertaining everyone. AJ hadn't been joking when he said he could play. In a brief moment when Charlie had nothing to do she paused near the wall and simply watched. AJ was incredibly talented, the band was free-styling the songs, but the groove was perfect. The DJ was setting up to start playing music to get everyone dancing, but Charlie wished she could listen to the band all night.

She glanced upstairs and saw John, Gordon, and Jake looking down surveying the party. John caught her gaze and smiled before turning back to his conversation. The band wrapped it up, the DJ gave everyone a moment to applaud before starting up his selection. Charlie followed AJ up the stairs.

"You were incredible," she said as they reentered the loft.

"Thank you," he said as he grabbed a glass and begin fixing himself a drink.

"Dude you are so getting laid tonight," Jesse said. "The women couldn't keep their eyes off you."

AJ snort at his comment and took a sip of his drink. "We'll see," he said with a shrug.

"Ah don't play it so cool Ivy League," Jake said. "You know you love the female attention."

Charlie sat down next to John and kissed his cheek. He wrapped his arm around her waist and slid her closer to him as he continued his conversation with Gordon. "Charlie settle something for us," Gordon finally said.

"Sure," she said with a nod.

"John says that your family is going to retaliate for our job because we've turned up the heat, I don't think they will."

Charlie thought about it for a moment before speaking. "My family dynamic is hard to explain, sure the Asians and Hispanics have the monopoly on a lot of stuff here, but we were making significant moves. If my family feels threatened they will retaliate but not if they can't prove it was us. I'm the only one who has to be worried if they do."

"See, I told you," John said giving Gordon a serious look.

Lilly entered the room at that moment looking very concerned. "Charlie, there's a man at the door asking for you," she said carefully.

"Did he say what he wants," Charlie asked.

"He has a message to deliver," Lilly explained.

Charlie pursed her lips and glanced at John. "Let's go see what he wants," she said as she stood up. They all followed her downstairs. Lilly led them out the front door to where the man was waiting. He pushed away from the wall and looked at Charlie intently.

"I've been sent to deliver a message," he informed her.

"So deliver it," Charlie said with a wave of her hand.

"You're Charlie Walsh," the man asked.

"Yeah, I'm Charlie."

The man stepped over to her and pushed up her sleeve. Charlie didn't move but threw out her arm to keep the others from moving. Reacting would only make it worse. The man studied her tattoo for a minute before looking up at her. "I didn't know you were a woman," he said.

"The name is deceiving, I know."

With that the man drew a blade across her tattoo, cutting it across the middle. Charlie winced slightly as the blood bubbled up from the cut. The others pushed forward to grab the man. "No," Charlie cried firmly. "You've delivered your message now go."

The man nodded at her once. "You've been warned," he said before walking away.

John grabbed her arm and inspected the cut. "Why the hell did you do that," he demanded.

"Don't do anything," Charlie warned as the others began to move after him. "It's a warning from my family."

"What does it mean exactly," Gordon asked as he offered his handkerchief to wrap around the cut.

"This is a Celtic protection symbol, everyone in my family has one. If they do this to yours the protection of the family no longer extends to you and you are free game," Charlie explained. "All someone has to do is look at this to see that I am no longer part of the family."

"So this is your family's way of putting a hit out on you," AJ asked.

"Not exactly, my family might come after me, they might not. It simply means that I can no longer count on their protection should someone else decide to kill me," she said.

"Oh well that's good news," AJ said sarcastically.

"For real, happy fucking new year," Jesse replied.


	12. Chapter 12

Chapter 12

Charlie felt like everyone was overreacting. After they went back into the party none of them would leave her alone, John said she was moving in with him so he could watch her. Gordon said she wasn't going anywhere without one of them with her. AJ and Jake offered to setup more surveillance at her apartment. Jesse said he could do stakeouts, anything they needed.

"You guys," Charlie said loudly. She stood up and held out her hands. "I really appreciate this, but you are overreacting. This is not a death threat, my family isn't going to do anything. Trust me, there will be another message if they decide to kill me. We are very traditional, people on the hit list know they are on the list, the paranoia works in our favor."

"I still think you should move in with me," John said.

"No," Charlie said shaking her head. "Besides you and Gordon have that business trip in a couple of days. You're going to be out of the country for 2 weeks. AJ and Jake can install the newer alarm system at the apartment, but nothing else."

"I think you should stay with one of us while John's out of town, just to be safe," Jake commented.

"No way, besides Lilly is staying with you and Jesse right now and you only have a three bedrooms," Charlie pointed out.

"You can stay with AJ," Jesse replied.

AJ looked up and met Charlie's gaze. "I don't have a problem with it," he said.

Charlie looked at John and Gordon to see what they would say. "I think it would be a good idea Charlie, just while John and I are gone. I don't want you by yourself. John can stay at your place until we leave, then you'll go to AJ's," Gordon said firmly. "Let us look after you love."

"Fine," Charlie said in exasperation.

...

John and Gordon considered postponing their trip, but they had to go. Gordon's sister was in trouble and he had to go back home to get her. John and Charlie pulled up to the gate to AJ's house and waited for him to buzz them in. Pulling up the driveway, Charlie let out a low whistle when she saw the house.

"Damn," John said as he took in the house as well. It was massive, much bigger than John's certainly too big for one person.

"I thought your place was nice," Charlie commented.

The front door opened and AJ stepped out onto the walkway. John and Charlie climbed out of the car and moved to the trunk to get her bags out. AJ grabbed the other bag from John as he led them inside.

"Nice house man," John said as he studied the interior.

"I inherited it," AJ explained. "It's not really my style, but it's a place to live."

"Yeah, some place," Charlie replied.

AJ showed them to her room for her stay. "Bathroom's through there, the closet is over there, there's nothing in the kitchen, I don't cook," he explained motioning around the room.

"Maybe she'll make her world famous spaghetti," John said as he wrapped an arm around Charlie's shoulders. "Her top secret sauce, Ragu."

"It's Prego thank you very much," Charlie said shaking her head at him. "I'll go to the store after I drop John off at G's."

"You know what you are doing while we are gone," John asked AJ.

"Working on our next job," AJ said with a shrug.

"All business, I like it," John said.

Charlie shook her head again and checked her watch. "All right boys, we've got to get you to G's before he leaves without you pretty boy."

"Aw, pretty boy, that's adorable baby," John teased.

Charlie pushed him out of the room and toward the front door. "I'll see you later AJ," she called over her shoulder.

"Have a good trip John," AJ called before shutting the front door.

...

Charlie dropped John off at G's and headed back toward AJ's neighborhood. She spotted a grocery store and quickly pulled in to pick up some supplies. She grabbed a cart and slowly wandered through the aisles wondering what AJ would eat. Figuring he would eat like John, Charlie loaded the cart up with basic 'man' food: steak, chicken, pork, etc. She picked a couple of items for herself and headed toward the checkout. She rounded the corner and her cart collided with another one. She looked up and immediately recognized one of her father's employees. Her eyes widen and she could feel the blood draining out of her face. She pulled her cart back toward her body and smiled apologetically.

"Sorry, wasn't look where I was going," she said as she maneuvered her cart around him.

"Do I know you," the man asked. He turned to follow her but Charlie kept her back to him.

"I don't think so," she said attempting to hide her accent as she spoke.

"No, I've seen you before I know it," the man said as he grabbed her cart making her stop. He nudged the sleeve of her blazer up revealing her tattoo. He leaned close to her his lips a breath away from her ear. "That's what I thought, I might be seeing you real soon sweetheart."

Charlie swallowed hard and yanked her arm away from him. She smirked at him for a moment before speaking, "You really think it was my father's call? My cousin had this done to me, try it and see what my father does to you."

With that Charlie shoved her cart toward check out, her heels clicking loudly against the tile as she strode away. She didn't chance another look in the man's direction as she paid for the groceries and headed to her car. She quickly loaded the things and climbed inside. Checking her rearview mirror she glanced around the parking lot to see if she recognized any of the vehicles. There it sat, the black suv, the same model her family always used. She pulled out her cell phone and quickly called AJ as she cranked the car. She backed out the spot watching the other car to see what it was doing.

"Hey Charlie," AJ said as he answered the phone.

"I'm being followed," Charlie said tensely.

"Do you know who it is," AJ asked.

"My family, he checked my tattoo," she explained.

"Is he still following you?"

Charlie checked her mirrors relieved to no longer see the vehicle. "No, either he took me seriously or he already knows where I'm going."

"Just come back here, we'll figure it out," AJ said before hanging up. John and Gordon hadn't been gone an hour and there was already trouble. He picked his phone back up to call John, but he thought better about it. Charlie wouldn't want him to know about this, she was sick of all of them overreacting. He paced through his living room as he waited for her to arrive back at him house. The alarm beeped indicating that someone had opened the front gate.

AJ rushed to the front door and threw it open, meeting Charlie at the top of the driveway. She climbed out of the car and began handing groceries to him. She didn't say anything as she strode into the house and began unpacking the groceries. AJ watched her as he sat down several of the bags. Her hands shook violently as she placed some fruit in a bowl on his counter.

AJ stepped over to her and grabbed both her hands stopping her in her tracks. He pulled her into him wrapping his arms around her waist pulling her close. Her hands fisted in his shirt as she pressed her face against his chest. She was literally quivering, unsure of what to say. She swallowed loudly and bit down on her lip.

"We should call your dad," AJ said softly.

Charlie sniffed and shook her head. "He won't help me, he cut me off."

"You don't know that he won't help you, he could put a stop to this Charlie, they are serious. They want you dead," AJ pointed out as he pushed her away from him so he could look her in the eye. "We have to do something."

"We're not doing anything," she said firmly before pulling away from him.

"You're just going to throw your life away, what about John, what about..." AJ trailed off.

"What about what? What about you," Charlie finished for him.

"Yeah," AJ said with a nod.

Charlie shrugged at him and glanced around the kitchen avoiding his gaze. The alarm system beeped letting them know someone was at the gate. AJ glanced up in time to see that the gate had been opened. "Shit," he said lowly. He grabbed Charlie and pulled her down behind the counter.

"Who is it," Charlie asked.

"I don't know," AJ said as he stared at the screen above them.

The car rolled to a stop and Jake climbed out. AJ let out a loud sigh and stood up. He pulled Charlie to her feet and pointed at one of the chairs in the kitchen. "Sit down, I'm going to let him in," AJ ordered.

Charlie sat down and fiddled with an empty grocery bag. AJ strode over to the door and threw it open. "What? You don't buzz up anymore," he called to Jake.

"I knew you were home," Jake replied.

"Something is going on," AJ explained. "I think Charlie's family was serious about this hit."

"What happened? Is she ok," Jake demanded as AJ led him into the kitchen.

"I'm fine," Charlie called in irritation.

"You are calling your dad," AJ said firmly.

"No I'm not, he cut me off AJ, this is probably his call, there is no sense in involving him."

"I think AJ has a point though Charlie, it was probably your cousin that did this to you, not your dad, if he knows what is going on he can probably help you," Jake pointed out.

"I'm not calling him," Charlie cried loudly.

"Then you had better call John and say goodbye because I don't think you'll live to see the end of the week," AJ snapped.

Charlie pursed her lips and looked away from him. She shook her head and pulled out her cell phone speed dialing her dad. The phone rang several times before going to voicemail.

"Dad, it's me, Charlie, someone from the family has put a hit on me, I need to know if this is your doing, call me back please," Charlie said before snapping her phone shut. She glanced at Jake and AJ. "Happy?"

"Ecstatic," AJ replied. "Until he calls you back, you aren't leaving the house. I'm not taking any risks with your life."

"I figured as much," Charlie said before sliding out of her seat and walking out of the room. She wasn't the type to take something like this sitting down. If someone wanted her dead, she would hit them before they could hit her, it was the only way to solve this.


End file.
